minor 


He  was  "vivified  with  a  spark  of  her  own  soul." 


THE 

SECOND  AMENDMENT 

BY 

HENRY  CLAY  HANSBROUGH 


MINNEAPOLIS 

THE  HUDSON  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
1911 


Copyright,   1911  by 

THE  HUDSON  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 
All  Rights  Reserved. 


Believe  not  each  accusing  tongue, 

As  most  weak  persons  do; 
But  still  believe  that  story  wrong 

Which  ought  not  to  be  true. 

— Sheridan. 

There  is  an  old  proverb,  also,  which  tells  us  that  "Quack- 
ery has  no  friend  like  gullibility."  Montaigne  declares  "No- 
thing is  so  firmly  believed  as  what  we  least  know." 


2135979 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

I.  THE  RETURNED  TRAVELER 1 

II.  AN   UNRECORDED  VOTE 11 

III.  WOMAN'S  PRESCIENCE 24 

IV.  THE   SENATE   DAZED 35 

V.  A  WEDDING   44 

VI.  MARGARET  HOLT'S  DOUBTS 54 

VII.  SOME  DIPLOMATIC  LYING 63 

VIII.  BANNISTER  AT  BLUE  RIDGE 79 

IX.  UNFOUNDED   SUSPICION    93 

X.  THE  MYSTERY  is  INTENSIFIED 104 

XI.  A   POLITICAL   SLANDER    117 

XII.  A  HEROIC  WOMAN   129 

XIII.  A  RELATION  OF  TWAIN'S 140 

XIV.  THE  NEW  CAESARISM 153 

XV.  THE  NEW  GOLDEN  RULE 167 

XVI.  RUNNING  FOR  THE  SENATE 179 

XVII.  AN  ANXIOUS  SKIPPER...,  192 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

XVIII.  "A  PLAY  WITHIN  A  PLAY" 207 

XIX.  LOVE'S  YOUNG  DREAM  DISTURBED 220 

XX.  "LovE  is  EVERYWHERE" 233 

XXI.  WOMAN'S  APPEAL  TO  WOMAN 249 

XXII.  THE  HAIR  TRUNK 257 

XXIII.  FRESH    COMPLICATIONS    267 

XXIV.  MRS.  HOLT'S  CAMPAIGN 279 

XXV.  A   NAVIGATOR'S   NERVE 288 

XXVI.  THE  HOMEWARD  VOYAGE 301 

XXVII.  A  DOUBLE   CARNATION 316 

XXVIII.  MARTHA  GIDDINGS   329 

XXIX.  READJUSTMENT    341 

XXX.  FINIS  .  354 


CHIEF  CHARACTERS 


Scenes  laid  in   Washington,  New  York,  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
Mexico,  the  Blue  Ridge  region,  and  in  a  western  state. 

Time — ? 

Senator  CORNELIUS  TWAIN;  Senators  FORDYCE,  BRADY,  BUR- 
RILL,  BROOKE,  Altrocrats. 

Senators  BAXTER,  HALSEY,  PAINE,  PACKENHAM,  KOPPINGER, 
WALLBRIDGE,  Conservatives. 

RALPH  BOLSTON,  a  rare  Briton. 

ARTHUR  GREY,  Altrocratic  editor. 

PAGE  BANNISTER,  Altrocratic  President. 

NICHOLAS  MIKLESKOFF,  a  titled  Russian. 

RICHARD  BOSTWICK,  chief  of  detectives. 

ANDREW  HOLT,  millionaire  manufacturer. 

STEPHEN  HOLT,  ardent  and  erratic  youth. 

ADELBERT  ROBERTS,  adviser  of  troubled  consolidators. 

EPHRAIM  Fox,  the  Come  Quick  Danger's  attorney. 

SAM  IVES,  WILLIAM  GIDDINGS,  ANDY  AKERS,  lobbyists. 


CHIEF  CHARACTERS 


JOHN  NOGGINS,  sea  captain. 

DON  JOSE  GUERRERO,  village  alcalde. 

ENID  GREY,  Twain's  sweetheart. 

MARTHA  GIDDINGS,  victim  of  politics  and  perfidy. 

MARGARET  HOLT,  sunny  natured  and  wealthy. 

JUANITA  GUERRERO,  in  love  with  Bolston. 

MRS.  HOLT,  practical  woman  and  generous. 

MRS.  GREY,  Enid's  mother. 

SUSIE  NOGGINS,  the  sea  captain's  little  daughter. 


THE  SECOND  AMENDMENT 


THE  SECOND  AMENDMENT 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  RETURNED  TRAVELER 

When  the  steamer  came  within  land  view  one  of  the  Japanese 
passengers  remarked  that  the  Americans  were  "flying  very  large 
kites."  Several  airships  were  skimming  the  ragged  edges  of 
the  mountain  range  beyond  the  Straits  of  Fuca.  The  Jap  was 
the  first  to  see  them;  he  was  industriously  using  a  pair  of  ma- 
rine glasses.  An  hour  later  the  airships  were  plainly  visible 
to  the  naked  eye.  It  was  my  first  sight  of  a  flying  machine, 
for  when  I  sailed  for  the  Orient  the  Wright  brothers  had  not 
made  their  demonstrations  of  the  aeroplane  at  Ft.  Meyer,  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  first  Zeppelin  dirigible  was  just  being  construct- 
ed in  Germany. 

Nor  had  the  wireless  telegraph  been  put  into  practical  serv- 
ice. Automobiles  were  not  out  of  the  experimental  stage  as 
yet,  and  the  tallest  skyscraper  in  New  York  did  not  exceed 
twenty-eight  stories.  Still,  this  last  achievement  was  thought 
to  be  very  great.  And  yet,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  wonderful 
evidences  of  man's  inventive  genius  and  constructive  skill,  the 
eager,  rushing,  palpitating  multitude  had  quite  forgotten  about 
the  telephone,  the  most  marvelous  of  all  of  them — a  contriv- 
ance, indeed,  which  even  Edison  had  been  unable  to  explain 
or  to  understand  fully;  for  who  among  all  the  scientists  and 
discoverers  can  accurately  account  for  the  mysterious  workings 
of  an  instrument  that  conveys  the  human  voice  a  thousand 


2  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

miles  in  less  than  the  hundredth  part  of  a  second  and  returns 
the  answer  before  the  questioner's  lips  have  closed? 

In  the  domain  of  politics  a  single  individual  had  long  been 
in  control  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  was  fast  going  to 
wreck  on  the  rocks  of  artificial  prosperity  that  the  Republicans 
had  erected  out  of  the  selfishness  of  man.  But  this  was  in 
consonance  with  the  industrial  expediency  of  the  day.  Insur- 
gency was  then  in  embryo,  and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  African 
jungle  had  not  yet  been  laid  under  political  tribute. 

Wherever  I  traveled  in  the  Far  East  I  was  deeply  impressed, 
not  to  say  sorely  depressed,  by  the  slothful  customs  and  other 
evidences  of  decay  to  be  seen  on  every  hand.  Even  the  new 
buildings,  the  few  that  fell  under  my  eye,  and  the  young  peo- 
ple as  well,  were  old  in  outward  appearance;  the  dust  of  the 
dead  ages  seemed  to  have  settled  permanently  upon  everything, 
and  soon  I  came  to  feel  that  I,  too,  was  aging  under  the  pre- 
dominant influence  of  the  pervading  "sere  and  yellow  leaf." 

Very  naturally,  after  a  considerable  period  in  a  reactionary 
atmosphere,  the  perspective  faculty  is  dulled,  and  one  is  prone 
to  relapse  into  an  unprogressive  state  of  mind.  Such  was  my 
mental  condition  when  I  embarked  at  Yokohama,  I  and  my 
baggage  ticketed  and  checked  for  America,  my  battered  trunks 
and  out-of-date  bags  profusely  plastered  with  the  quaint  labels 
of  oriental  hotels. 

But  what  a  change  was  here,  my  countrymen !  The  first  ob- 
ject that  aroused  my  dormant  enthusiasm  was  a  fresh,  crisp  copy 
of  a  newspaper  published  daily  on  shipboard.  It  was  called 
"The  Morning  Vibragram,"  for  the  reason,  I  presume,  that  it 
was  devoted  chiefly  to  the  reproduction  of  wireless  dispatches 
from  all  civilized  parts  of  the  globe.  One  of  these  messages 
of  the  air,  bearing  a  Washington  date  line,  told  of  the  con- 
cluding negotiations  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  whereby  Canada  was  becoming  a  political  part  of  the 


THE     RETURNED     TRAVELER  3 

American  Union  in  exchange  for  the  Philippine  Islands,  an- 
nexation by  the  corporation  or  reciprocity  route  having  failed. 
Another  announced  the  completion  of  the  new  sea-level  canal 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  This  was  in  consequence  of 
the  mysterious  and  wanton  destruction  of  the  Gatun  Dam  in 
the  old  lock  canal.  A  "Vibragram"  editorial  on  the  subject 
referred  scathingly  to  the  part  that  some  Japanese  fanatics 
were  believed  by  many  Americans  to  have  played  in  the  Dam 
incident.  However,  the  story  was  not  officially  credited  in  the 
United  States.  The  editorial  concluded:  "Thus  has  a  great 
national  crime  been  avenged  by  a  stroke  of  diplomacy  which 
rids  us  of  one  alien  people,  not  of  our  blood,  in  exchange  for 
one  that  belongs  to  the  common  stock  from  which  we  sprang. 
Thus  is  the  ambitious  and  aggressive  Mikado  brought  to  face 
a  reinforced,  if  not  a  belligerent  power  in  the  East.  And  here- 
after our  own  navy  may  pass  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
without  being  obliged  to  negotiate  the  top  of  a  mountain." 

It  was  from  the  patriotic  editor  of  "The  Vibragram,"  Arthur 
Grey,  who  was  on  board,  that  I  acquired  much  valuable  in- 
formation in  regard  to  America  and  some  important  events 
occurring  during  my  absence.  He  was  also  the  owner  and  pub- 
lisher of  "The  Morning  Record,"  the  leading  daily  paper  at 
the  National  Capital.  Grey,  then  a  young  man,  was  just  enter- 
ing the  journalistic  field  in  Washington  at  the  beginning  of  my 
public  service.  He  knew  American  politics  and  politicians, 
and  had  a  wide  reputation  for  rare  wisdom  as  well  as  for  im- 
peccable honesty.  Among  other  things,  he  was  famous  for 
having  followed  strictly  and  consistently  the  policy  of  "editing 
his  newspapers  upstairs  instead  of  in  the  counting  room." 

Grey,  it  should  be  said,  was  not  a  believer  in  things  Utopian ; 
nor  was  he  an  advocate  of  fads.  He  knew  the  weak  spots  in 
politicians  and  in  new  party  movements,  and  had  refrained 
from  lending  unlimited  encouragement  to  Insurgency  and  its 


4  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

corner  stone  in  the  temple  of  political  issues — the  primary  elec- 
tion system.  He  had  great  respect  for  the  courts,  and  yet  it 
was  difficult  for  him  to  conceal  his  disgust  for  those  tribunals 
that  had  upheld  the  constitutionality  of  that  provision  in  most 
of  the  primary  laws  under  which  certain  state  legislatures  had 
been  weak  enough  to  delegate  to  the  state-wide  electorate  the 
legislative  duty  of  choosing  United  States  senators — for  that 
is  the  net  result  of  all  such  statutes.  He  did  not  believe  in 
widespread  distribution  of  responsibility. 

He  also  knew  the  people,  although  in  the  abstract  he  did 
not  distrust  them.  The  people  were  all  right,  he  declared,  if 
they  had  the  good  fortune  not  to  be  misled.  According  to  his 
view  they  were  in  as  great  danger  of  being  deceived  by  one 
faction  as  by  another,  or  by  one  party  as  by  another. 

"And  they  seem  to  like  it,  too,"  said  he. 

So,  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  agitation  against  corpo- 
rate domination  in  politics,  and  throughout  the  reign  of  Popu- 
lism, Insurgency  and  the  like,  his  exceptional  forsightedness 
enabled  him  to  see  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  temporiz- 
ing or  compromising  as  between  party  factions;  that  if  the 
times  were  out  of  joint — and  he  had  some  misgivings  on  this 
score — there  must  be  a  complete  regeneration  in  public  policy. 
If  a  new  party  was  needed  it  must  stand  for  something  on  its 
own  account,  not  for  its  service  to  monopoly,  and  have  a  ring- 
ing title  that  meant  literally  what  it  implied.  It  must  have  a 
paramount  issue  that  was  not  galvanized  with  antiquated  "prin- 
ciples" worn  to  a  frazzle  by  either  or  both  of  the  parties  which 
the  new  one  was  designed  to  supersede. 

"A  three-ringed  circus,"  said  he,  "may  be  just  the  thing,  but 
you  cant'  have  a  three-ringed  political  party ;  nor  do  I  believe  in 
political  side  shows.  In  politics  there  is  always  the  danger  that 
the  clamoring  'outs,'  when  they  get  into  power,  should  this  hap- 


THE     RETURNED     TRAVELER  5 

pen,  will  fall  into  the  same  undesirable  ways  the  'ins'  had  been 
pursuing." 

Then  he  went  on  to  explain  the  reason  for  the  Altrocratic 
party ;  told  me  of  the  struggle  its  founders  were  undergoing  and 
that  might  be  expected  to  continue,  and  gave  me  an  interesting 
account  of  its  aims  and  purposes,  analyzing  the  great  Purchase 
bill  that  embraced  the  issue  upon  which  the  new  party  based  its 
hopes  of  permanent  success.  Thus  it  was  that  I  became  famil- 
iar with  the  course  of  legislation  and  with  administrative  policy 
as  these  had  progressed  while  I  was  away  from  my  native  land. 

Little  did  either  of  us  imagine,  as  we  discussed  matters  to- 
gether on  shipboard,  what  was  in  store  for  the  greater  Republic 
in  consequence  of  pending  policies;  the  nature  of  the  startling 
events  so  soon  to  take  place  at  the  very  seat  of  government. 
Scarcely  can  I  realize,  even  now,  what  has  happened,  it  is  all  so 
very  strange,  although  it  is  entirely  plausible.  I  know,  how- 
ever, that  Arthur  Grey,  at  the  time  I  began  this  story,  was  a 
changed  man — broken  in  health  and  sad  at  heart;  yet  he  had 
not  lost  his  iron  nerve ;  men  of  his  type  never  wholly  despair  of 
the  future  of  their  country,  however  much  they  may  be  dis- 
pleased with  the  trend  of  politics,  or  the  seeming  madnesses  in 
what  constitutes  modern  popular  government. 

So  deeply  engrossed  were  we  over  the  stirring  prospects  and 
the  uncertainties  of  affairs  of  state  and  domestic  development — 
with  the  Canadian  country  and  the  frozen  north  coming  into 
the  Union  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  all  Europe,  encour- 
aged by  our  abandonment  of  the  policy  of  protection  for  the 
domestic  farmer,  demanding  free  trade,  and  with  it  an  unforti- 
fied canal — it  was  not  until  after  our  Jap  friend  with  the  marine 
glasses  had  discovered  the  flying  machines  and  we  were  steaming 
into  Seattle  harbor,  that  I  found  time  to  inquire  particularly 
after  Grey's  interesting  little  family  at  their  home  in  Washing- 
ton City. 


6  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Ah,  you  have  not  forgotten  them,"  he  exclaimed,  proudly, 
when  I  spoke  of  Mrs.  Grey  and  her  many  courtesies  toward  me 
during  my  public  service.  And  his  face  beamed  with  a  smile  of 
delight  when  I  referred  particularly  to  the  budding  little  maid 
that  had  so  often  stood  at  my  knee  and  interrogated  me  concern- 
ing "the  big  talking  men  in  the  big  Capitol  on  the  hill."  Then, 
in  a  confidential  tone,  he  said : 

"Enid  is  soon  to  be  married." 

I  found  it  difficult  to  persuade  myself  that  she  could  have 
grown  to  the  marriageable  age,  and  yet,  of  course,  several  years 
were  passed  since  I  had  listened  to  her  joyous,  na'ive  question- 
ings. I  was  silent  for  quite  a  while,  running  over  in  my  mind 
the  strange  things  that  come  on  the  wings  of  time.  Then  I  in- 
quired : 

"May  I  ask  to  whom?" 

"To  a  brother  senator  of  yours,"  he  replied,  laughingly. 

"A  nephew  senator,  more  likely,  Grey;  my  brother  senators 
are  surely  all  dead,  or  have  been  defeated  for  re-election,  by  this 
time." 

Still,  I  congratulated  him.  Knowing  the  Senate  as  I  had,  I 
felt  that  his  daughter  could  scarcely  make  a  mistake  by  choosing 
a  senator  for  a  husband,  notwithstanding  the  proclivity  of  the 
scarlet  press  to  satirize  them  and  to  create  disagreeable  impres- 
sions concerning  their  gentlemenly  qualities  and  honorable  pur- 
poses ;  for,  while  I  am  aware  that  not  all  the  senators  that  have 
helped  to  make  our  remarkable  history  have  been  faultless,  I  am 
equally  certain  that  not  in  all  history  has  there  ever  been  a  body 
that  contained  so  few  unworthy  men.  If  we  accept  current 
criticism  as  being  true,  it  is  a  body  whose  members  are  expected 
to  be  something  more  than  human.  Yet,  in  truth,  where  a  few 
senators  have  failed  to  meet  this  expectation,  may  it  not  have 
been  due  largely  to  the  falsehoods  and  the  nagging  tactics  of 
ambitious,  envious  party  rivals  outside  the  Senate — of  those  that 


THE     RETURNED     TRAVELER  7 

are  bent  on  getting  into  the  Senate  at  any  price  to  themselves  or 
at  any  cost  in  reputation  to  the  incumbent? — to  the  unfortunate 
habit,  forsooth,  in  this  "land  of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave," 
of  discrediting  public  servants,  particularly  those  who  attain  to 
distinguished  positions  and  assume  grave  responsibilities  ?  And 
how  often  the  attack  from  the  outside  begins  even  before  the 
victims  have  had  an  opportunity  to  demonstrate  their  fitness.  It 
seems  to  be  a  national  trait  to  undermine  those  in  authority ;  to 
drive  men — great  or  small,  good  or  bad — from  place  and  from 
power.  Only  angels  with  wings — large  and  strong  ones — could 
be  equal  to  eluding  a  persistent,  heartless  pursuit  like  this. 

My  interest  in  the  Senate  had  not  waned.  Although  I  was 
looking  forward  with  no  small  degree  of  pleasure  to  the  time 
when  convenience  would  permit  me  to  visit  the  place  of  some  of 
the  greatest  trials  as  well  as  the  greatest  triumphs  of  my  life, 
after  listening  to  Grey's  energetic  and  hopeful  words  concerning 
political  conditions,  I  resolved  to  go  to  Washington  after  as  lit- 
tle delay  as  possible.  Nor  would  my  first  call  be  at  the  Capitol ; 
immediately  on  my  arrival  I  would  pay  my  respects  at  the 
editor's  home.  I  was  curious  to  see  the  future  wife  of  my 
"brother  senator."  I  had  known  the  one  as  a  child,  but  not 
until  my  friend,  the  distinguished  father  of  the  girl,  spoke  his 
name  had  I  ever  heard  of  Cornelius  Twain. 

The  true  American  quickly  adjusts  himself  to  marvelous 
things.  I  was  by  no  means  slow  in  getting  accustomed  to  the 
high-speeding  automobiles  that  thronged  the  highways. 

"It  is  in  the  state  of  Washington,"  remarked  Grey,  before  we 
left  Seattle,  "that  more  good  roads  are  to  be  found  than  in  any 
other  commonwealth.  This  is  due  chiefly  to  the  efforts  of  my 
energetic  friend,  Samuel  Dale,  who  enjoys  being  called  a  good 
roads  crank.  Where  you  find  good  roads  there  also  will  you 
find  the  autochine  in  abundance." 

Nor  did  I  "duck"  or  "side-step,"  after  a  few  days'  experience, 


8  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

in  order  to  avoid  the  airships  when  they  came  swooping  down 
for  passengers  or  gasoline.  And,  as  for  being  surprised  at  the 
height  of  the  skyscrapers,  the  sixty-story  one  at  Seattle  certainly 
prepared  my  mind  against  anything  of  the  kind  that  might  be 
seen  when  I  came  to  New  York. 

There  was  no  doubt  but  that  by  this  time  I  was  coming  out  of 
the  spell  that  oriental  travel  had  put  upon  me;  that  I  had 
shaken  off  the  dust  of  the  dead  ages,  and  was  once  more  hope- 
fully and  buoyantly  American  in  substance  and  in  spirit. 

Another  thing,  one  that  pleased  me  much,  the  places  known 
as  the  Twin  Cities — now  one  and  inseparable,  in  spite  of  them- 
selves— had  finished  the  work  of  putting  their  street  car  tracks 
under  ground,  particularly  in  the  congested  centers.  What  a 
relief!  On  this  account  I  lingered  in  the  consolidated  metro- 
polis, now  one  of  the  beauty  spots  of  earth,  for  nearly  a  week 
beyond  my  limit,  so  that  I  might  enjoy  the  absence  of  noise. 

I  did  not  observe  any  great  improvement  in  this  regard  in 
Chicago ;  but  no  one  ever  goes  to  Chicago  expecting  to  find  quiet 
and  rest,  or  anything  else  that  does  not  appear  to  be  overgrown, 
including  noise. 

Coming  to  Washington  from  New  York  in  an  airship  (time 
two  hours) ,  I  was  soon  comfortably  settled  at  the  Hotel  Willing- 
ton,  famous  for  its  great  court,  its  superior  food  and  its  fancy 
prices.  Grey  was  on  hand  with  his  "autochine"  and  whirled 
me  through  Rock  Creek  Park  to  his  comfortable  residence  in 
the  hills.  It  was  here  that  I  passed  my  first  evening  in  many 
years  at  the  Capital ;  that  I  again  met  "little  Enid."  She  smiled 
and  shook  her  head  when  I  thus  greeted  her. 

"American  girls  develop  rapidly,  once  they  begin  to  grow," 
said  she,  with  a  musical  laugh. 

Rarely  has  it  ever  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  one  possess- 
ing such  superlative  beauty  and  charm.  Surely  the  Graces  had 
delved  lovingly  here.  It  was  a  beauty  that  appealed  to  all  the 


THE     RETURNED     TRAVELER  9 

senses,  making  its  intellectual  appeal  as  well ;  for  even  the  shape- 
liness of  form  and  the  fine  pink  coloring  of  her  striking  Grecian 
face  seemed  to  fade  from  view  when  she  spoke — a  voice,  indeed, 
so  sweetly  and  mellifluously  attuned  that  no  words  of  mine  can 
describe  it;  and  her  wonderful  gray  eyes  were  all  alight  with 
incomparable  expressiveness. 

"I  am  sure  you  will  like  him,"  she  replied  when  I  had  offered 
my  felicitations.  And  how  easily  she  was  drawn  into  enthusias- 
tic praise  of  his  admirable  qualities.  So,  as  I  listened  and 
looked,  almost  dumbfounded  in  the  effulgent  glory  of  her  pres- 
ence, I  determined  to  go  the  next  morning  to  the  Senate  cham- 
ber that  I  might  see  and  know  the  wonderful,  the  fortunate  man 
who  could  capture  this  womanly  prize. 

But  who,  I  asked  myself  when  the  body  had  been  called  to 
order,  are  these  strange  men?  Were  they  senators?  It  must 
be  so.  Yet  they  were  so  unlike  the  old  guard  in  appearance  and 
manner.  Could  it  be  that  the  primary  system  had  wrought  the 
change?  Then  I  recalled  a  flippant  but  forceful  gibe  I  had 
heard  when  the  primary  was  first  coming  into  vogue :  "The 
veriest  nondescript  may  run  for  the  Senate  when  that  fad  be- 
comes effective,  and  at  the  finish  the  wealthiest  and  perhaps  the 
least  competent  man  will  take  the  prize,  while  not  ten  per  cent  of 
the  voters  will  have  known  beforehand  any  of  the  aspirants  that 
took  part  in  the  scramble." 

There  was  much  truth  in  this  sarcastic  quip.  But  many  of 
us  have  learned  from  sore  experience  that  truth  and  party  ex- 
pediency are  not  usually  on  intimate  terms ;  wisdom  and  ragtime 
politics,  like  oil  and  water,  do  not  mix. 

Yes,  the  change  was  very  marked,  and  it  was  quite  complete. 
There  were  none  with  whom  I  had  served — no  "brother  sena- 
tors," to  use  the  editor's  phrase ;  so  I  consoled  myself  with  the 
thought  that  at  least  there  was  no  harm  in  accepting  them  as 
nephews. 


10  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

I  asked  an  attendant  to  point  out  Senator  Twain,  but  he  was 
not  in  his  seat ;  had  not  been  there  that  day.  The  reason  for  his 
absence  was  not  hard  to  guess,  for  although,  in  my  day  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  body,  there  was  a  tradition  that  love  was  not  condu- 
cive to  serious-minded  statesmanship,  I  had  known  senators  to 
steal  away  from  the  dreary  scene  and  drive  in  the  parks  with 
fair  ladies.  Nor  time  nor  changed  political  conditions  and 
policies  would  overcome  this  pleasing  practice,  against  which 
the  sage  of  "Wolfert's  Roost"  had  inveighed  as  a  frivolous 
habit. 


CHAPTER  II 

AN  UNRECORDED  VOTE 

I  lingered  about  the  chamber,  hoping  that  Twain  might  come 
in,  without  the  least  suggestion  or  suspicion  in  my  mind  that  the 
day  was  to  be  a  memorable  one  in  the  annals  of  my  country.  I 
had  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  afternoon  in  the  seat  of  an- 
other absent  senator,  and  was  not  following  closely  the  sleepy 
proceedings — for  they  were  of  the  dull,  perfunctory,  indefinite 
sort  that  belong  to  listless  legislation — when  my  attention  was 
attracted  by  the  noise  of  an  unusual  silence,  as  an  epigrammatist 
might  say.  In  other  words,  there  was  a  noticeable  hiatus  in  the 
speechmaking.  All  eyes  were  now  focused  on  Mr.  Packenham, 
Conservative  senator  from  Lower  Alaska,  who  occupied  the 
floor.  The  Seward  peninsula  had  but  just  been  admitted  to 
the  sisterhood  of  states,  adding  two  stars  to  the  blue  field  of 
"Old  Glory." 

Sixty  seconds  of  complete  silence  in  the  Senate  will  arouse 
greater  curiosity  and  interest  than  a  whole  month  of  routine 
noise.  Such  was  the  last  minute  consumed  by  Packenham  be- 
fore he  yielded  the  floor.  He  had  stopped  abruptly  in  his  dry, 
dispassionate  speech,  and  taken  a  slip  of  folded  paper  brought  to 
him  just  then  by  a  page.  With  his  other  hand  he  lifted  a  glass 
of  water  to  his  lips,  and,  while  he  sipped  sparingly  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  glass,  by  a  dexterous  movement  of  his  thumb  and 
forefinger  he  unfolded  the  paper. 


12  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"You  do  not  look  well.     Your  argument  conclusive." 

These  were  the  words  in  the  note.  They  had  been  typewrit- 
ten, as  was  shown  by  subsequent  investigation,  and  the  word 
"conclusive"  was  heavily  underlined.  The  page  said  the  mes- 
sage came  at  the  request  of  a  gentleman  in  the  reserved  gallery. 

The  senator  was  much  paler  now  than  before.  He  crushed 
the  slip  of  paper  in  his  hand,  rolled  it  into  a  small  round  ball, 
dropped  it  into  a  waste  basket  and  then  returned  the  glass  to  its 
place  on  his  desk.  After  a  furtive  glance  about  the  dull,  pro- 
saic scene,  he  said : 

"Mr.  President,  I  will  not  further  impose  my  views  upon  the 
patience  of  the  Senate.  I  have  done." 

Most  of  the  senators  that  were  in  the  chamber  looked  sur- 
prised when  Packenham  suddenly  ceased  speaking  and  sat  down, 
for,  as  I  afterward  learned,  he  was  expected  to  talk  at  least  two 
days;  he  usually  did  when  great  constitutional  questions  were 
being  considered.  On  this  occasion  he  had  spoken  less  than  two 
hours ;  and,  too,  he  had  closed  his  argument  without  indulging 
in  any  oratorical  flourish  whatsoever. 

"Surely,"  remarked  a  new  senator  near  me,  "this  is  not  the 
same  Packenham  to  whom  so  many  gallery  visitors  have  listened 
in  the  past." 

The  look  of  surprise  on  senators'  faces  gave  way  to  one  of 
astonishment  when  the  Vice  President,  standing  in  his  place, 
asked  if  there  were  further  remarks  on  the  pending  bill,  and  no 
senator  rose  to  speak.  The  Vice  President's  inquiry  was  not 
only  superfluous  and  unnecessary — it  was  unusual.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  he  deemed  it  necessary  to  proceed  cautiously  and  de- 
liberately, for  the  reason,  presumably,  that  the  whole  country 
was  facing  a  most  uncommon  situation.  Everyone  knew  the 
two  parties  were  so  evenly  divided  in  the  Senate  that  a  single 
vote  might  easily  determine  the  fate  of  the  bill  then  under  con- 
sideration. 


AN     UNRECORDED     VOTE  13 

"Vote !     Vote !" 

This  demand  came  from  senators  on  both  sides  of  the  cham- 
ber. 

For  weeks,  to  the  exclusion  of  nearly  all  other  business,  de- 
bate had  proceeded  upon  the  great  Purchase  bill,  with  no  pros- 
pect of  a  vote  being  taken ;  both  the  Altrocratic  and  the  Conser- 
vative senators  were  fearful  of  the  result.  Repeated  attempts 
had  been  made,  first  by  the  proponents  and  then  by  the  oppo- 
nents, whenever  the  conditions  seemed  favorable  to  either  side,  to 
secure  unanimous  consent  for  a  time  to  vote.  These  attempts 
invariably  failed;  for  it  always  happened  that  some  senator  on 
the  other  side  objected.  Then  the  debate  would  go  on. 

Until  the  sudden  turn  came,  when  Packenham  stopped  talk- 
ing, it  looked  as  if  the  end  of  the  long  session  of  Congress  might 
be  reached  without  definite  action.  Grey  told  me,  as  we  came 
eastward,  that  he  expected  such  a  result.  Yet,  at  no  time  in  the 
history  of  the  Senate  had  a  great  national  question  been  disposed 
of  without  a  previous  unanimous  agreement — that  is  to  say,  an 
agreement  on  a  definite  time  for  a  vote  on  the  measure  in  which 
the  fate  of  that  question  was  involved. 

So,  having  no  doubt  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  the  presiding 
officer  when  debate  comes  to  an  end  in  the  Senate  (which  rarely 
happens),  and  being  reassured  by  Senator  Fordyce,  the  Altro- 
cratic leader,  who,  from  his  place  on  the  floor,  was  now  nodding 
his  approval — the  Vice  President,  in  a  voice  full  of  confidence, 
exlaimed : 

"The  question  is  on  the  amendment  to  the  pending  bill." 

"Which  amendment,  Mr.  President?"  This  inquiry  came 
from  several  senators  in  unison ;  there  were  many  amendments. 

After  considerable  parliamentary  sparring  it  was  agreed  that 
a  vote  should  be  taken  on  an  amendment  that  had  been  offered 
during  the  morning  hour  by  Fordyce. 

This  pleased  the  Altrocratic  senators,  who  were  already  evinc- 


14  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

ing  great  delight,  for  they  were  glad  that  debate  was  at  an  end. 
And,  too,  they  had  no  doubt  of  a  majority  of  one  on  any  test  of 
party  strength  that  might  occur. 

Yet,  they  found  it  difficult  to  conceal  their  uneasiness,  for  the 
Conservatives,  who  were  expected  to  continue  the  debate  indefi- 
nitely, were  now  bestirring  themselves  for  the  important  contest 
at  hand.  By  this  time  it  seemed  as  if  every  Conservative  sen- 
ator was  present  and  in  his  seat.  They  were  noted  for  their 
disciplinary  methods. 

"Behold  the  sereneness  and  composedness,  the  hopeful  light  in 
Baxter's  face,"  remarked  Senator  Paine.  He  was  speaking  in 
an  undertone  to  Senator  Halsey,  a  fellow  Conservative,  who 
showed  by  his  manner  that  he  was  nervously  apprehensive. 

"One  never  knows  what  a  smiling  man  is  thinking  about,"  re- 
plied Halsey.  "See !  Fordyce,  too,  is  smiling  broadly.  He  looks 
too  happy  to  suit  me." 

Indeed,  both  party  leaders  seemed  to  be  pleased. 

"Well,  why  not  have  it  out  now?"  said  Paine.  "If  we  defeat 
them  that  will  end  it  for  the  present.  If  they  succeed,  the 
courts  will  settle  the  question  as  it  should  be  settled,  for  the  bill 
is  unconstitutional." 

"Undoubtedly,"  replied  Halsey. 

"Yeas  and  nays,  Mr.  President,"  came  in  chorus  from  the 
senators. 

Accordingly,  the  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered,  amidst  a  scene 
of  confusion  and  excitement  such  as  had  never  before  occurred 
on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  Fortunate,  indeed,  was  I  to  be 
present  and  witness  this  culminating  point  in  a  momentous 
issue. 

The  sonorous  ring  of  the  bells,  signifying  that  a  vote  was  at 
hand,  sounded  ominously,  imparting  a  metallic  quality  to  the 
depressing  heat.  Pages  raced  through  the  building  in  search  of 
absent  senators.  The  galleries  soon  filled  with  spectators,  who 


AN     UNRECORDED     VOTE  15 

were  dawdling  in  the  corridors  and  lobbies,  hopeful  that  some- 
thing of  an  exciting  nature  would  take  place  on  the  floor,  while 
in  the  reserved  stalls  were  gathered  many  consolidators  and  their 
obedient  chamberlains,  who  for  months  had  infested  the  place 
of  legislative  power  with  their  artful  and  insinuating  presence. 
Even  the  Master  Monger  was  there.  At  no  time  since  the  period 
of  "regulation  and  control,"  now  obsolete,  had  their  number  at 
the  Capitol  been  so  great.  Was  it  the  beginning  of  the  end  of 
their  reign  of  lawlessness?  If  so,  the  fact  that  it  was  at  hand 
did  not  seem  to  penetrate  their  calloused  souls. 

In  the  telephone  booths  the  "whips"  of  the  two  parties  were 
contending  for  the  wires,  which  appeared  now  to  be  vexatiously 
crossed  or  shortcircuited.  Senator  Brady,  the  Altrocratic  whip, 
was  especially  interested  in  reaching  Senator  Twain.  Some- 
thing seemed  to  be  wrong  with  everything  just  then.  Finally, 
when  Brady  succeeded  in  getting  the  wire  and  also  the  infor- 
mation that  it  was  "busy,"  his  remarks,  if  I  dared  record  them 
as  uttered,  would  be  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  profane  class- 
ics as  a  model  of  succinct  and  forceful  epigram. 

"Damn  these  minions  of  money !"  he  exclaimed.  "They 
thwart  us  at  every  step."  But  this  is  only  a  sample,  and  was  not 
all  that  he  said. 

Impatiently  returning  the  receiver  to  its  bracket,  he  hastened 
to  the  office  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  where  he  wrote  a  list  of 
Altrocratic  senators  who  were  absent,  yet  who  were  known  to  be 
in  the  city,  and  directed  that  messengers  be  dispatched  for  them 
forthwith.  Then  he  rushed  into  the  Senate  chamber  just  in  time 
to  answer  to  his  name  on  the  vote  on  the  first  amendment. 

The  result  of  the  roll  call,  after  the  regular  and  the  temporary 
pairs  had  been  announced,  showed  forty  senators  for  the  amend- 
ment and  forty  against  it,  with  one  senator  absent  unpaired, 
there  being  none  with  whom  he  could  be  paired.  The  absentee 
was  Senator  Twain. 


16  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"The  chair  votes  no,"  said  the  Vice  President  in  a  tone  that 
was  scarcely  audible.  "The  amendment  is  rejected." 

A  wave  of  unrestrained  glee  passed  over  the  faces  of  those  in 
the  reserved  stalls.  In  the  other  galleries,  where  sat  the  prole- 
tarian visitors,  a  serious  and  portentous  silence  ensued. 

Fordyce  then  took  the  floor.  He  made  the  assertion,  and 
made  it  vigorously,  that  there  had  been  no  previous  agreement  to 
take  a  vote.  It  was  a  strange  proceeding  at  best,  he  declared. 
Therefore,  he  made  a  motion  for  a  recess  of  thirty  minutes. 

There  was  no  doubt  that  his  party  followers,  who  were  now  in 
a  state  bordering  upon  consternation,  needed  time  in  which  to 
collect  their  faculties  and  their  forces. 

"I  hope  the  motion  will  be  voted  down,"  replied  Baxter,  the 
Conservative  leader.  "The  friends  of  the  amendment  knew 
how  to  prevent  a  vote ;  they  could  have  gone  on  with  the  debate, 
as  they  have  been  doing  for  months." 

The  Conservatives  were  anxious  to  proceed,  for  with  the  cast- 
ing vote  of  the  Vice  President  in  their  favor,  Twain  being  away 
and  unpaired,  they  knew  they  could  now  defeat  the  Purchase 
bill. 

"We  did  not  anticipate  any  sharp  practice,"  responded  For- 
dyce with  a  ringing  note  in  his  voice.  "It  was  a  case  of  snap 
judgment,  nothing  less.  Senators  on  the  other  side  will  do  well 
not  to  push  me  to  the  proof." 

Packenham's  face  colored.  Baxter  was  about  to  reply,  when 
Senator  Wallbridge,  one  of  the  senior  statesmen — a  Conservative 
in  fact,  for  he  believed  in  proper  senatorial  ethics — rose  and  said 
he  hoped,  in  view  of  what  had  occurred,  the  request  for  a  recess 
would  be  acceded  to.  And  it  was,  for  Baxter  knew  the  value  of 
party  solidarity.  He  also  knew  of  Wallbridge's  tendency  toward 
independent  action. 

"That  was  the  shortest  speech  Packenham  ever  made,"  Brady 
exclaimed  when  the  Altrocratic  leaders  gathered  at  the  rear  of 


AN     UNRECORDED     VOTE  17 

the  chamber  after  the  recess  was  announced.  Brady  was  speak- 
ing under  suppressed  excitement.  He  realized  that  his  col- 
leagues were  not  pleased  with  him;  "Twain  should  have  been 
here,"  they  growled.  But  what  "whip"  ever  knew  where  all  his 
fellow  partisans  were  when  needed? 

"And  everyone  on  our  side  expected  Packenham  to  make  one 
of  his  long  speeches,"  added  Burrill. 

"Oh !  he  was  wound  up  to  run  until  he  got  a  sign  to  quit," 
declared  Fordyce,  impatiently.  "It  is  all  clear  enough  now, 
after  the  damage  is  done.  Where  is  Twain?" 

"I  have  a  man  at  the  'phone  trying  to  locate  him,"  replied 
Brady,  "  and  have  sent  a  messenger  to  Mr.  Grey's  house." 

"A  senator  can't  be  in  love  and  attend  to  his  public  duties  too," 
added  Fordyce,  scornfully.  Tradition  always  and  forever  in 
the  Senate ! 

It  was  near  the  hour  of  six  when  the  Senate  reconvened.  By 
this  time  the  galleries,  emptied  in  consequence  of  the  recess, 
were  again  filling  up.  There  were  now  many  members  of  the 
House  on  the  floor.  Excitement  over  the  unexpected  develop- 
ments was  running  high  outside  as  well  as  inside  the  chamber. 
All  kinds  of  sensational  reports  were  afloat.  In  the  street  there 
was  a  wild  rumor  that  the  Purchase  bill  had  been  defeated ;  that 
Packenham  was  ill,  being  obliged  to  suspend  his  speech;  that 
Senator  Twain  was  absent  when  the  vote  was  taken,  and  that  his 
friends  were  gravely  suspicious  of  him.  Yet  street  rumors  are 
not  always  reliable.  The  most  composed  and  confident  persons 
to  be  seen  were  the  Conservative  senators  and  the  occupants  of 
the  reserved  stalls  who  agreed  with  them  that  the  pending  Altro- 
cratic  measure  was  both  vicious  and  unwarranted. 

Senator  Brooke  took  the  floor  to  debate  the  second  amendment. 
The  confusion  was  so  great  that  the  reporters  of  debates  could 
not  hear  him;  the  Conservative  senators  did  not  want  to  hear 
him,  and  the  Altrocratic  senators  were  interested  only  in  con- 


18  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

suming  time  so  as  to  admit  of  the  return  of  Twain.  So  that 
Brooke  was  in  no  haste  to  proceed,  and  when  he  did  proceed  his 
deliberate  and  somewhat  irrelevant  remarks  were  not  listened 
to;  nor  did  he  nor  any  other  Altrocrat  care  whether  they  were 
or  not. 

After  two  hours  of  argument  Brooke  yielded  for  a  motion  to 
adjourn.  It  was  defeated.  Then  he  went  on — like  the  Brooke 
that  he  was. 

It  was  the  Conservatives  who  prevented  an  adjournment  an 
hour  ago.  Baxter  now  came  forward  with  a  proposal  that  he 
would  agree  to  an  adjournment  if  the  Altrocrats  would  stop 
talking  and  permit  a  vote  on  the  second  amendment.  It  was 
Baxter's  amendment.  The  Altrocrats  declared  that  it  would 
nullify  the  Purchase  law,  should  it  become  a  law  with  the 
amendment  in  it.  Still,  they  knew  that  under  the  rule  they 
could  have  the  vote  reconsidered,  even  within  the  next  two 
days,  with  Twain  present;  so  they  accepted  Baxter's  proposal 
to  take  a  vote  on  his  amendment  and  then  adjourn. 

Although  it  was  now  considerably  past  the  usual  dinner  hour, 
the  Altrocrats  clung  to  the  hope  that  Twain  might  yet  appear. 

Before  the  above-mentioned  arrangement  was  suggested  by 
Baxter  and  acceded  to  by  Fordyce,  the  party  machinery  in  the 
Senate  had  been  put  in  motion.  Over  against  the  west  wall  of 
the  chamber,  near  the  main  entrance,  stood  a  watchful  employe 
of  the  body.  He  owed  his  appointment  to  the  Conservatives. 
Just  outside  the  door  near  him  a  page  was  stationed.  Far  down 
at  the  end  of  the  corridor  was  another  page,  and  near  the  street 
entrance  of  the  building  still  another.  This  line  of  watchers 
had  been  thus  picketed,  while  Brooke  was  speaking,  so  that  the 
Conservatives  could  be  apprised  of  the  arrival  of  Twain.  Had 
the  latter  appeared  at  the  street  entrance  at  this  critical  moment, 
word  would  have  been  quickly  passed,  and  before  Twain  could 
enter  the  cloak  room,  put  his  hat  in  his  locker  and  come  into 


AN     UNRECORDED     VOTE  19 

the  chamber,  the  Conservatives  would  have  time  to  secure  an 
adjournment  for  the  day,  thus,  perhaps,  saving  the  immediate 
defeat  of  Baxter's  amendment. 

"Whip"  Brady  had  his  lookouts  also.  There  was  one  at  the 
north  window  of  the  general  reception  room,  another  at  the 
entrance  to  the  marble  room  and  still  another  just  inside  the 
northeast  door  of  the  chamber.  Brady  had  no  doubt  that  Twain 
would  approach  the  Capitol,  if  he  came  at  all,  from  a  certain 
direction,  so  that  Fordyce  would  get  the  signal  from  the  inside 
watcher  as  soon  as  the  latter  got  it  from  those  outside.  Then 
Fordyce  would  have  Brooke  stop  talking,  and  permit  a  vote  to 
be  taken  on  the  second  amendment.  There  was  also  an  Altro- 
cratic  messenger  at  the  Grey  residence  and  one  at  Twain's  lodg- 
ings, both  under  instructions  to  use  the  telephone,  if  possible,  in 
case  the  senator  came  to  either  of  those  places. 

All  these  arrangements  and  precautions,  quite  unusual  it  is 
true,  were  entirely  legitimate.  They  seemed  to  be  necessary, 
under  the  peculiar  conditions  then  confronting  the  Senate,  in 
determining  the  fate  of  the  most  important  party  measure  that 
had  come  before  the  body  in  a  half  century.  In  all  fairness  to 
the  Conservatives,  it  may  be  said  that  they  were  not  aware — and 
certainly  the  Altrocrats  were  not — of  another,  a  more  myste- 
rious and  diabolical  scheme,  concocted  outside  the  chamber,  to 
overcome  the  vote  of  Twain. 

In  the  heated  discussions  over  the  extraordinary  events  now 
stirring  the  people  as  never  before,  no  one  ever  directly  charged 
the  Conservative  leader  with  a  knowledge  of  what  was  about  to 
happen,  although  there  were  vague  hints  to  that  effect.  Had  the 
accusation  ever  been  specifically  made,  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that 
Baxter  would  have  denied  it;  he  never  denied  anything — only 
smiled.  To  have  wasted  time  in  making  denials  would  have 
kept  him  or  any  other  party  leader  very  busy. 


20  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Mr.  Baxter."  (The  clerk  was  now  calling  the  roll,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  agreement  to  have  a  vote.) 

"Ay,"  answered  the  Conservative  leader,  whose  name  was  at 
the  top  of  the  list. 

Its  being  there  was  a  mere  coincidence ;  alphabetically  it  be- 
longed there.  Baxter's  political  leadership,  which  was  some- 
thing entirely  apart  from  the  tally-sheet  arrangement,  was  large- 
ly in  consequence  of  his  ability,  his  courage,  or,  more  properly, 
his  admirable  audacity.  And,  too,  it  was  supposed  he  represent- 
ed the  swollen  fortunes  of  the  country;  so  at  least  it  was  cur- 
rently reported.  From  this  distinction  he  never  shrank  for  a 
moment.  Withal,  he  was  believed  to  consider  it  an  honor  and  a 
duty.  The  multitude  understood  it,  and  censured  him.  Baxter 
merely  smiled. 

It  was  Baxter's  smile  that  gave  no  inconsiderable  weight  to 
his  name  being  at  the  top  of  the  roll — that  and  his  undaunted 
leadership.  If  a  Conservative  senator  happened  not  to  hear 
Baxter's  "aye"  or  "no,"  thus  being  in  doubt  as  to  what  he  was 
expected  to  do,  he  had  but  to  look  at  his  leader's  face.  If  Baxter 
was  smiling,  that  meant  that  all  Conservatives  were  expected  to 
vote  in  the  affirmative ;  if  he  wore  a  serious  expression,  this  fact 
implied  the  negative.  It  sometimes  happened  that  Conserva- 
tives would  vote  "no"  when  Baxter  had  voted  the  other  way; 
whereupon  the  latter  would  smilingly  remark  in  an  undertone, 
"Our  vote's  aye." 

The  term  "our,"  as  thus  used,  had  its  deeper  significance — a 
sort  of  community-of-interest  meaning,  which  is  a  corporate 
quality.  In  the  Senate  this  powerful  thing  has  a  potency,  and 
it  is  not  to  be  either  despised  or  ignored.  All  parties  have  used 
it,  and  their  successors  will  doubtless  do  so.  Its  fruit  is  party 
prestige,  which  is  extended  to  the  states,  in  the  form  of  patron- 
age, about  election  time.  It  had  long  been  relied  upon  and  en- 
joyed by  the  industrial  and  other  mendicants  of  consolidation, 


AN     UNRECORDED     VOTE  21 

and  was  now  being  successfully  used  to  put  the  brand  of  party 
treason  upon  those  who  were  even  suspected  of  independent  poli- 
tical tendencies. 

And  as  I  sat  there  while  the  roll  was  being  called  on  a  mea- 
sure that  deeply  concerned  the  welfare  of  a  hundred  millions  of 
people  and  their  unborn  descendants,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a 
hundred  thousand  monopolists  and  their  heirs  on  the  other,  I 
was  wondering  just  how  far  back  it  was  in  the  faded  ages  that 
the  spirit  of  monopoly — that  is,  the  struggle  for  individual  ad- 
vantage— had  its  inception.  It  must  have  been  long  before  the 
advent  of  the  jack-knife,  hopeful  youth's  implement  of  barter 
and  trade,  before  kites  were  invented,  before  spinning  tops  were 
made.  It  may  be  that  it  was  about  the  time  that  mankind  was 
first  studying  the  fashions  in  animal  skins;  when  Eve's  daugh- 
ters, "garmented  in  light  from  their  own  beauty,"  wearied  of  the 
monotony  of  prevailing  styles,  were  thatching  themselves  with 
grasses  from  the  Aryan  plains. 

Our  earliest  ancestors  levied  tribute  upon  one  another  in  a 
variety  of  ways.  If  one  of  them  had  anything  that  another  one 
wanted,  the  process  by  which  the  title  passed  between  them  was 
very  simple,  and  the  late  owner  was  left  to  sit  on  a  limb  and 
chatter  about  his  hard  luck.  The  multitude  sympathized  with 
the  vanquished  and  yet  paid  obsequious  homage  to  the  victor. 
Hence  the  modern  proverb  that  "nothing  succeeds  like  success." 
Later,  when  mind  had  risen  superior  to  matter,  effective  results 
were  obtained  by  negotiation,  brute  force  being  used  only  as  a 
last  resort.  But  now,  at  the  high  noon  of  our  "civilizing  power," 
we  had  combined  the  potential  forces  of  greed,  and  pasted  the 
label  of  "party"  on  the  consolidated  product,  "with  naught  set 
down  in  malice,"  but  with  gain  as  the  controlling  motive.  Spo- 
liation was  come  to  be  an  exact  science — an  art  in  legislation 
and  a  virtue  in  business  pursuits. 

Prosperity  and  monopoly  were  now  accepted  by  many  estima- 


22  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

ble  persons  as  synonymous  terms.  What  the  Altrocrats  were 
insisting  upon  was  that  the  two  should  not  be  confused,  because 
of  the  dissimilitude  in  their  meaning;  for,  as  they  contend,  in 
the  success  of  the  one  reposes  the  hope  of  the  people,  in  the 
other  the  certain  destruction  of  the  Republic — all  which  has  a 
musical  sound  that  will  fall  flat  on  the  ear  of  selfishness.  The 
line  of  political  division  was  well  defined  in  the  Senate,  with 
the  Conservatives  representing  the  underwritten  policies  of 
artifice  and  privilege,  the  hopeful  Altrocrats  struggling  mili- 
tantly  to  establish  a  real,  honest  democracy. 

However,  these  matters  cannot  now  be  discussed  at  length — 
not  while  the  roll  is  being  called.  I  may  not  discuss  them  at 
all,  having  not  the  slightest  desire  to  infringe  upon  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  sensationalist. 

"Mr.  Brady,"  continued  the  clerk. 

"No,"  responded  the  Altrocratic  "whip." 

Just  then  a  page  bounded  up  the  aisle  to  Brady's  seat.  The 
senator  listened  intently  to  the  youth's  whispered  message.  After 
a  moment's  reflection  he  rose  and  walked  carelessly  over  to  where 
Fordyce  was  sitting. 

"When  the  first  pair  is  announced,"  said  he  in  an  undertone, 
"get  up  and  make  a  disturbance  about  it.  Delay  the  roll  call 
even  at  the  risk  of  your  life.  Twain  is  on  his  way  in  an  auto,  an 
aero,  or  something;  they  have  just  'phoned  me  from  Grey's." 

The  opportunity  for  the  "disturbance"  came  the  next  minute, 
when  the  name  of  a  Conservative  absentee  was  called,  and  an 
Altrocratic  senator  who  had  a  regular  pair  with  the  absentee 
proposed  to  transfer  it  to  Twain.  Although  this  arrangement 
would  have  been  quite  in  accordance  with  everyday  usage, 
strangely  enough  Halsey  raised  an  objection,  and  supported  it 
by  a  short  argument.  He  asked  why  the  pair  arrangement  on 
the  vote  taken  on  the  first  amendment  was  not  the  preferable 
one,  and  far  less  complicating. 


AN     UNRECORDED     VOTE  23 

He  feared  that  a  rearrangement  might  leave  a  Conservative 
senator  unpaired,  thus  imperiling  the  second  amendment. 

His  objection  to  the  proposed  pairing  of  Twain  gave  Fordyce 
the  opportunity  he  sought  to  make  a  "disturbance,"  and  he  em- 
braced it.  Under  the  unwritten  rule  of  unlimited  debate,  For- 
dyce, if  he  chose,  could  talk  until  Twain  appeared  upon  the 
scene,  be  that  the  next  minute  or  the  next  month.  Then  of 
course  Brady  would  give  him  a  sign  to  stop. 

But  Twain  did  not  arrive.  And  what  is  stranger  still — a 
thing  until  then  unprecedented  in  the  Senate — the  vote  on  the 
second  amendment  to  the  great  Purchase  bill,  the  roll  having 
been  called,  had  not  been  announced  by  the  presiding  officer 
when  the  body  adjourned  that  night. 


CHAPTER  III 
WOMAN'S  PRESCIENCE 

When  the  first  rays  of  the  morning  dawn  came  creeping 
through  the  blinded  windows  of  her  dainty  apartment,  Enid 
Grey  was  reminded  that  she  had  not  slept. 

Here,  in  seclusion  and  unutterable  sorrow,  her  wonderful  eyes 
aflame  and  swollen  with  grief,  her  aching  bosom  surging  against 
a  great  weight  of  anguish,  she  was  pacing  the  awful  moments 
away,  waiting,  hoping,  silently  praying  for  a  message  from  her 
father  or  from  Mr.  Bolston — anything  that  would  lift  the  ter- 
rible cloud  of  despair  from  her  anxious  mind. 

The  very  silence  of  her  surroundings  was  oppressive,  while  the 
least  of  noises  assumed  the  magnitude  of  thunderbolts.  The 
incessant  ticks  of  the  clock,  from  its  cozy  recess  on  the  mantel, 
sank  into  her  exquisite  senses  as  thrusts  from  trenchant  blades. 
Yet,  there  was  something  in  the  resonant  peals  of  the  mellow  bell, 
as  it  solemnly  marked  the  dragging  hours,  answering  the  music 
of  the  reverberant  chimes  in  the  distant  steeple,  that  aroused 
activity  and  exalted  the  emotions;  she  knew  by  the  last  strokes 
of  the  little  timepiece  and  the  growing  light  in  the  windows  that 
a  new  day  had  come.  Would  it  bring  relief  ?  Could  the  angels 
in  Heaven  prevail  against  such  injustice  ? 

Weary  in  body  and  mind,  she  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  her 
faithful  maid  and  lay  down  on  the  divan.  Here  Aimee  soothed 
her  into  fitful  slumber. 


WOMAN'S     PRESCIENCE  25 

At  "The  Morning  Record"  building  the  editor,  Senator 
Brady,  and  Ralph  Bolston,  far  beyond  the  midnight,  discussed 
the  strange  events  of  the  preceding  evening  and  received  the 
vague,  indefinite  accounts  and  rumors  brought  in  by  the  tired 
reporters.  Speculation  at  police  headquarters  was  equally 
dubious. 

As  a  result  of  their  efforts  to  unravel  the  mystery,  Brady, 
Grey  and  Bolston  consoled  themselves  with  the  thought  that 
there  was  nothing  tragically  remarkable  about  what  might  turn 
out  to  be  only  an  unavoidable  delay.  Twain's  failure  to  return 
to  the  autocar  in  which  he  had  set  out  for  the  Senate ;  the  pro- 
bability that  he,  being  engrossed  in  the  business  that  took  him 
into  the  Wellington  to  meet  his  friend  Splicer,  had  neglected  or 
even  forgotten  to  send  word  to  Enid,  who  was  waiting  for  him 
in  the  machine,  and  that,  before  he  had  finished  with  Splicer, 
she,  becoming  alarmed  or  being  moved  by  the  impatience  of 
hunger,  had  wheeled  away — any  or  all  of  these  could  easily  have 
happened.  Again,  he  might  have  heard  of  the  adjournment  of 
the  Senate,  and,  his  presence  not  being  required  there,  decided  to 
go  with  Splicer  to  his  room. 

Strange  it  was,  nevertheless,  that  he  failed  to  send  word  to 
her  as  she  waited  outside,  or  to  use  the  'phone  and  advise  the 
much  interested  occupants  of  the  Grey  household  of  the  cause 
of  his  delay;  it  was  not  at  all  like  Twain  to  permit  even  the 
most  pressing  public  duties  to  interfere  with  the  commonplace 
civilities  of  life.  Moreover,  Bolston's  industrious  efforts  during 
the  evening  to  locate  Splicer  availed  him  not;  indeed,  no  one 
could  be  found  that  knew  of  his  being  in  the  city. 

Woman's  prescience  is  so  much  keener  than  is  this  same  power 
in  man  that  she  has  frequently  been  misjudged.  She  has  been 
known  to  foresee  and  to  foretell  the  coming  of  great  calamities 
without  giving  a  logical  reason  therefor.  This  remarkable  fac- 
ulty was  strong  in  Enid  Grey. 


26  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

To  this  day  she  cannot  account  for  the  controlling  motive  that 
impelled  her  to  insist  upon  driving  with  Cornelius  Twain  to  the 
Capitol  when  they  returned  from  their  airing  in  the  park,  and 
Twain  was  advised  by  the  waiting  messenger  sent  by  Brady  that 
the  Senate  was  voting  on  the  Purchase  bill. 

Nor  will  she  undertake  to  describe  the  prompting  apprehen- 
sions that  came  to  her  when,  as  the  chauffeur  was  cranking  the 
machine — the  Brady  messenger  having  hastened  away — another 
messenger  appeared,  saying  that  Mr.  Splicer  had  urgently  re- 
quested the  senator  to  stop  at  the  Willington  on  his  way;  that 
Splicer  would  wait  for  him  near  the  buffet  that  opens  on  the 
great  court  near  the  fountain  and  would  accompany  him  to  the 
Senate. 

"At  the  Willington,  did  you  say?"  she  asked  the  last  messen- 
ger. 

"Yes,  miss."     He  lifted  his  hat  politely. 

"And  he  is  now  waiting  near  the  buffet?" 

"Yes,  miss,"  the  young  man  again  touching  his  hat. 

"Thank  you,"  exclaimed  Twain.  "I  was  not  aware  Splicer 
was  to  be  here,"  he  added  as  the  driver  threw  on  the  first  clutch 
and  "honked"  for  right  of  way,  for  he  had  been  told  to  test  the 
speed  limit.  "Something  important,  I  am  sure,  or  Bob  would 
have  put  it  off  until  tomorrow."  Splicer  was  one  of  his  closest 
friends,  the  editor  of  a  leading  paper  in  his  state. 

"You  will  pardon  me,  won't  you?"  she  asked,  laughingly.  "It 
is  my  foolish  anxiety  that  prompts  me." 

"Your  interest  always  pleases  me,"  he  replied. 

"Will  you  have  time?"  she  inquired,  in  a  dubious  tone. 

"Oh,  yes.  It  will  take  only  a  minute.  Besides,  calling  the 
roll  in  the  Senate  is  slow  work,  and  there  will  be  so  many  pre- 
liminaries to  a  vote  it  is  doubtful  if  I  shall  be  needed  tonight." 

"Do  you  know  the  messenger?"  she  inquired. 


WOMAN'S     PRESCIENCE  27 

"The  first  one,  yes;  the  other  one — well,  I've  often  seen  him 
about  the  Capitol  and  the  Willington." 

"Oh,  the  first  one — I  liked  his  manner;  he  has  a  good  face," 
she  averred. 

"You  have  some  doubt  in  regard  to  the  other  one?" 

"There  was  something  in  his  voice  and  his  look  that  disturbs 
me.  He  was  less  sincere." 

"Dear  little  girl !"  exclaimed  Twain,  as  he  looked  lovingly 
in  her  face,  "there  are  no  two  mortals  alike.  It  was  so  or- 
dained; else  how  could  we  know  whom  we  love  most?" 

"I  would  know,  even  if  all  men  were  like  you  in  physical  ap- 
pearance." 

"But  there  is  none  other  like  you  in  any  way,  sweetheart,"  he 
replied. 

Arriving  at  a  side  entrance  to  the  hotel,  Twain  gave  her  hand 
an  effectionate  squeeze,  and  saying  he  would  return  immediately, 
passed  quickly  across  the  pavement  into  the  corridor.  It  was 
the  dinner  hour,  and  there  were  few  people  in  the  hotel  lobby  to 
impede  his  rapid  progress  toward  the  great  court,  which  had  been 
constructed  so  as  to  accommodate  not  only  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  carriages  and  automobiles,  but  also  the  dirigibles — the 
pleasure  craft  that  dropped  down  into  the  court  from  time  to 
time. 

Her  eyes  followed  the  rather  slight  figure  of  the  admirable 
lover  and  friend  until  he  disappeared  at  the  end  of  the  corridor. 
Then  her  heart  seemed  to  cease  its  functions,  she  knew  not  why. 
Her  first  impulse  was  to  follow  him.  Yet  her  better  judgment 
bade  her  wait.  He  would  be  absent  only  a  minute,  he  said — a 
man's  minute,  too ;  it  is  shorter  than  a  woman's. 

Hastily  ungloving  her  left  hand,  she  placed  the  two  first 
fingers  at  the  pulse  point  of  her  other  wrist.  This  was  a  habit 
that  was  formed  in  her  early  girlhood.  It  was  first  resorted  to 
at  school  when,  on  an  only  occasion,  her  teacher  required  that 


28  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

she  should  remain  standing  sixty  seconds  in  a  conspicuous  place 
in  the  room — a  punishment  for  a  slight  infraction  of  the  school 
rules,  something  pertaining  to  her  lesson  in  physiology.  It  was 
by  this  lesson,  perhaps,  that  she  knew  approximately  the  number 
of  pulsations  in  each  minute.  When  the  sixty  seconds  had  ex- 
pired and  her  teacher  seemed  to  forget,  the  impatient  girl  made 
bold  to  so  inform  her.  This  is  a  simple  illustration  indicating 
Enid  Grey's  resolute  and  methodical  temperament.  It  stood 
her  well  in  hand  within  the  year. 

She  was  surprised  now  to  find  her  pulse  bounding  even  more 
rapidly  than  when  she  was  at  school,  although  nearly  fifteen 
summers  had  passed  since  her  teacher's  gentle  admonition. 

Ninety !  The  minute's  time  had  passed  and  more.  Still,  she 
would  give  him  another  minute — a  woman's  minute;  an  hun- 
dred additional  throbs  of  her  heart  should  he  have  to  finish  with 
his  friend  Splicer.  At  the  end,  and  he  had  not  returned,  she 
closed  her  eyes,  slowly  regloving  her  hand.  The  surging  pulse 
but  marked  her  growing  trepidation. 

Surely  the  second  messenger  was  genuine.  Could  it  be  that 
Splicer  ? — she  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  such  deception.  And 
yet  she  was  familiar  with  the  disturbed  state  of  the  public  mind, 
and  had  had  some  intimations  of  the  desperation  of  men  that 
are  engaged  in  subverting  the  facilities  of  government  to  so- 
called  business  ends.  These  and  kindred  thoughts  struggled  for 
solution,  until  her  face  burned  and  her  temples  throbbed;  her 
heart  was  sending  the  blood  in  riot  to  her  brain. 

Five  minutes  had  now  sped  their  everlasting  course ! 

The  grinding  whir  of  a  great  dirigible's  wheels  resounded 
ominously  overhead;  like  a  wail  of  agony  it  was  to  her.  Two 
other  airships,  seemingly,  of  less  power  than  the  first,  shot  up- 
ward like  rockets  from  the  dismal  court,  taking  their  way  also  to 
the  south. 

The  tendrils  of  her  emotions  relaxed;  she  felt  a  sensation  of 


WOMAN'S     PRESCIENCE  29 

nausea,  then  of  pain.  The  noisy  murmur  of  the  streets  was 
now  slowly  dying  in  the  fearful  hollows  of  her  ears. 

The  chauffeur  had  observed  her  deep  anxiety.  "I  will  go  in 
search  of  the  senator,"  he  said.  His  remark,  as  he  hastily  left 
the  machine,  roused  her  from  the  impending  swoon. 

"Please,  Ben;  near  the  buffet  you  know,"  she  replied,  deject- 
edly. 

The  driver's  absence  marked  another  age  of  suspense  for  the 
suffering  girl.  There  was  no  relief  in  Ben's  report  when  he 
came  back.  The  place  was  almost  deserted,  he  said — two  or 
three  carriages,  their  colored  drivers  asleep  on  their  boxes; 
three  men  in  close  converse  on  a  seat  near  the  buffet. 

"One  of  them  was  the  second  messenger !"  added  Ben. 

The  next  instant  Miss  Grey  was  on  the  pavement.  Then  she 
passed  quickly  along  the  corridor  into  the  court. 

The  three  men  had  gone ! 

O,  prescient  womankind!  How  well  thy  Creator  hath  en- 
dowed thee  for  blessed  motherhood ! — thou  who  must  guard  the 
way  of  thy  toddling  offspring.  Is  it  strange,  then,  that  thy  ap- 
prehensive mind  encompasseth  the  uncertain  steps  and  the  vary- 
ing fortune  of  all  others  within  the  horizon  of  thy  affections  ? 

"I  beg  of  you  to  compose  yourself  and  return  to  your  home. 
It  is  best.  I  feel  sure  that  the  senator  is  safe." 

Bolston  had  arrived  at  the  Willington,  by  the  merest  accident, 
to  find  her  in  a  pitiable  state  of  agitation.  She  had  inquired  of 
the  clerk  if  he  had  seen  Senator  Twain.  Receiving  a  negative 
answer,  she  went  directly  to  the  buffet  and  talked  with  "the 
captain."  Twain  had  not  been  there,  the  captain  was  sure,  as 
he  knew  him  well. 

She  was  hastening  across  the  court  to  the  telephone  booths 
when  the  young  Englishman  saw  her. 

"Pardon  me,  Miss  Grey.     Can  I  be  of  service  to  you?" 

"Something  terrible  has  happened,  Mr.  Bolston!"  she  ex- 


30  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

claimed.    "Please  notify  my  father  and  the  Senate.    He  came — " 

"You  mean  Twain?"  he  inquired,  quickly  divining  the  cause 
of  her  excitement. 

"Every  one  seems  to  be  asleep  in  this  gloomy  place,"  she  con- 
tinued. "No  one  has  seen  him,  and  yet  he  left  me  but  a  few 
minutes  ago,  saying  he  would  return  immediately.  It  seems  an 
age !  And  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  Senate,  too ;  stopped  only  to 
pick  up  his  friend  Mr.  Splicer  at  the  buffet.  Where  are  the 
officers?" 

It  was  then  that  Bolston  pleaded  with  her  to  be  calm,  and 
offered  to  escort  her  to  the  machine,  saying  it  would  not  be  ad- 
visable to  raise  an  alarm. 

With  wide  startled  eyes  she  surveyed  the  dark,  cavernous 
court,  then  turned  and  moved  reluctantly  toward  the  corridor. 

"I  will  go,"  she  said,  "if  you  will  remain  and  make  a  thorough 
investigation.  He  must  be  here — or  else — " 

"If  he  is  here,  rest  assured  I  will  find  him,"  interrupted  Bol- 
ston in  soothing  tones. 

"Please  do  not  leave  the  court,"  she  pleaded.  "I  will  return 
alone  to  the  machine.  I  have  implicit  confidence  in  your  judg- 
ment." 

The  chauffeur  was  not  surprised  that  she  should  sigh,  that 
she  reeled  and  tottered  as  she  passed  from  the  auto  to  the  door- 
way of  her  home,  nor  that  she  dropped  limply  into  a  seat  on  the 
veranda.  He  was  offering  to  assist  her  when  Aimee  came. 

The  sun  was  pouring  its  first  glory  out  of  the  east  when  the 
maid  was  awakened  by  the  moanings  of  her  mistress. 

"Who  knows,  Aimee?     Who  knows?     Mr.  Bolston  is  there." 

"Ah,  mademoiselle !" 

"They  had  gone ! — the  messenger,  Aimee." 

"Ze  poor  face  it  is  var  hot ;  ze  hands  also." 

"The  messenger,  Aimee !  Ben  saw  him.  Yet  he  was  not 
there—" 


WOMAN'S     PRESCIENCE  31 

"Quick,  I  have  ze  cool  water  for  ze  face." 

"Listen,  Aimee !  It  is  the  balloons !  And  he  does  not  come 
back  to  me !" 

"Ah,  Dieu !"  moaned  the  maid. 

Mrs.  Grey  came  just  then  to  find  her  despairing  daughter  in 
the  throes  of  delirium.  Her  father  was  summoned,  and  as 
quickly  as  possible  Doctor  Richardson  was  called. 

When  the  last  pages  of  the  morning  papers  were  sent  to  the 
presses  there  was  nothing  in  them  by  which  the  mystery  could 
be  measured.  They  contained  no  word  on  the  subject  that  is 
not  already  within  the  reader's  knowledge,  nor  as  much,  for 
Enid  Grey's  alarming  illness  was  too  recent  for  their  columns. 
Besides,  it  was  a  private  matter. 

Yet,  there  was  enough  of  circumstantial  detail  in  the  news 
columns,  overlaid  with  decidedly  suggestive  headlines,  to  sup- 
plement a  theme  long  to  remain  of  universal  interest.  It  was 
between  the  lines  that  the  reader  found  the  most  information; 
he  could  draw  his  own  conclusions. 

Before  the  end  of  the  day  there  were  few  who  did  not  feel 
that  a  monumental  wrong  had  been  perpetrated ;  that  it  was  due 
to  the  scandalous  practices,  recklessly  followed  in  that  day,  of 
permitting  greed  to  control  the  Government;  for  it  was  this 
that  had  aroused  the  Altrocracy  of  the  country,  and  compelled 
the  delinquent  remnants  of  the  two  old  parties  to  combine  under 
one  banner.  And  yet,  combination  had  not  saved  the  remnant 
the  loss  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  passed  the  Pur- 
chase bill  a  month  ago  by  a  big  margin.  How  nearly  they  were 
to  losing  the  Senate  has  already  been  told. 

What  was  of  immediate  concern  to  all  was  the  whereabouts 
of  Senator  Twain,  the  manner  of  his  dramatic  disappearance 
and  the  identification  of  those  responsible  for  it. 

The  remarkable  event  had  plunged  the  Government  into  a 
condition  of  paralysis.  The  President,  although  a  Conserva- 


32  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

tive,  and,  as  the  public  had  been  led  to  believe,  in  close  sympa- 
thy with  the  moneyed  autocracy  so  long  controlling  the  nation's 
politics,  seemed  profoundly  dazed. 

The  two  houses  of  Congress  met  at  the  usual  hour  the  next 
morning,  and  soon  adjourned.  The  Purchase  bill  was  in  mid- 
air; also  the  suspended  vote  on  the  second  amendment.  The 
Conservatives,  under  the  existing  dolorous  conditions,  did  not 
have  the  hardihood  to  press  the  advantage  they  had  in  the  Vice 
President's  deciding  vote,  and  the  Altrocrats  were  laboring  un- 
der an  obsession  far  too  great  to  admit  of  their  renewing  the 
debate  immediately. 

Without  an  agreed  plan  or  understanding  about  it,  the  Senate 
fell  to  considering  other  matters  from  day  to  day.  Yet,  both 
sides  were  wary  and  watchful,  lest  somewhere  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment a  secret  spring  be  touched,  as  happened  when  Packenham 
stopped  talking;  when  he  read  the  note  handed  him,  and,  his 
face  paling  to  livid  whiteness,  he  took  his  seat. 

Before  many  sessions  had  passed  a  fierce  discussion  ensued. 
It  came  about  when  Baxter  criticised  an  item  in  an  appropria- 
tion bill  which  carried  an  unusually  large  sum  of  money  for 
secret  service  work.  It  had  been  put  into  the  bill  by  the  Altro- 
crats of  the  House. 

Baxter  smilingly  inquired  if  it  was  proposed  to  inaugurate  a 
widespread  detective  system  "so  as  to  bring  private  business 
affairs  under  the  supervision  of  the  Government." 

"Some  portion  of  it  may  be  used  in  recovering  a  stolen  senator 
whose  vote  appears  to  be  necessary  to  the  completion  of  a  certain 
roll  call,"  replied  Fordyce. 

A  dozen  Conservative  senators,  eager  to  refute  Fordyce's 
pointed  insinuation,  were  on  their  feet  in  an  instant,  clamoring 
for  recognition.  The  presiding  officer,  using  his  gavel  valiantly 
to  quell  the  confusion,  declared  that  Baxter  had  the  floor. 

The  latter  then  went  on  to  say  that  the  words  of  the  Altro- 


WOMAN'S     PRESCIENCE  33 

cratic  leader  were  an  insult  to  the  entire  Senate.  He  would  not 
call  the  senator  to  order,  for  he  had  no  doubt  the  offensive  lan- 
guage would  be  withdrawn. 

"We  regret  the  show  of  impatience,  not  to  say  the  agitation, 
on  the  Conservative  side,"  answered  Fordyce.  "I  have  not 
charged  the  crime  to  any  senator  or  set  of  senators.  Personal- 
ly, I  believe  and  the  country  believes  that  Twain  is  being  forci- 
bly detained.  There  are  those  who  think  they  know  the  pur- 
pose of  it  all.  His  disappearance  was  at  a  time  when  his  vote 
was  vital  to  the  pending  bill." 

"Does  the  senator  say,"  inquired  Baxter,  "that  the  absent 
senator  would  vote  for  the  bill  in  its  present  form  were  he  here 
to  do  so?" 

"He  favors  the  principles  embodied  in  the  bill,"  was  the  reply. 
"I  have  no  doubt  about  that.  Nor  has  any  other  senator  any 
doubt  about  it." 

"Is  it  not  true  that  it  was  his  purpose  to  offer  a  substitute  for 
the  entire  bill?"  continued  Baxter,  pressing  his  point.  "Does 
any  Altrocratic  senator  know  the  nature  of  the  proposed  sub- 
stitute?" 

Fordyce  was  unable  to  make  a  direct  answer  to  this  mystify- 
ing question,  for  no  one  had  seen  the  substitute ;  Baxter  himself 
had  only  heard  of  it.  Neither  had  Twain  made  a  speech  on  the 
Purchase  bill,  although  it  was  understood  he  intended  to  do  so 
before  it  came  to  a  vote. 

The  Conservative  newspapers  enlarged  eloquently  upon  Bax- 
ter's challenge  of  Twain's  position.  Quite  a  number  of  them 
went  further  and  declared  the  "stolen  senator"  might  have  been 
conveniently  out  of  the  way  on  his  own  account  when  the  voting 
began. 

Until  now  the  public  had  been  impatient  of  any  suggestion 
that  Twain  was  not  an  honest,  man.  The  great  body  of  the 
people,  close  readers  of  the  scarlet  press,  were  strong  in  the 


34  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

belief  that  certain  agents  of  "the  System"  had  spirited  him 
away.  But  when  they  analyzed  Baxter's  speech  and  read  the 
approving  explanatory  comments  in  the  Conservative  journals, 
a  cloud  of  questioning  doubts  came  over  them.  Such  is  the 
mobility  of  the  mind  of  man. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  SENATE  DAZED 

When  the  roll  is  called  by  the  presiding  angel  in  the  Great 
Beyond  there  will  be  no  delay  in  recording  the  result,  for  the 
hosts  of  Heaven  will  not  be  alarmed,  nor  afraid ;  and  there  will 
be  no  absentees,  nor  chaos,  nor  confusion.  The  scene  will  be 
one  of  celestial  grandeur  and  splendor,  of  serenity  and  joy  in- 
effable— transcending  even  the  most  exalted  glory  of  earth. 
Most  of  them  that  are  impersonated  in  this  veracious  volume 
will  be  present,  and  will  answer  unabashed  as  their  names  are 
spoken. 

Very  often,  in  selecting  an  artistic  painting  to  be  hung  on  the 
line,  it  becomes  necessary  to  examine  an  inferior  work,  for  the 
visual  powers  of  the  connoisseur  will  be  aided  by  thus  contrast- 
ing the  two  productions.  Still,  the  true  artist's  comparison  will 
not  inspire  invidious  suggestions.  Nor  can  there  be  the  slightest 
resemblance  between  a  roll  call  in  Heaven  and  the  melancholy 
scene  in  the  Senate  which  is  now  to  be  depicted. 

The  Senate  prides  itself,  and  justly,  too,  upon  its  perfect  poise 
and  its  methodical  deliberateness.  Yet,  senators  and  their 
helpers  are  of  mortal  mould,  and  may  be  discomposed  by  trying 
circumstances.  It  is  worth  relating,  therefore,  how  it  came  to 
pass  that  the  result  of  the  roll  call  on  the  second  amendment 
was  not  announced  by  the  Vice  President  and  duly  spread  upon 
the  records.  It  was  an  extraordinary  occurrence,  in  consequence 


36  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

of  an  extraordinary  event.  The  moment  also  was  psychological, 
for  those  were  stirring  days  in  the  arena  of  politics. 

Fordyce,  prompted  by  Brady,  as  has  been  related,  was  ques- 
tioning the  regularity  of  the  pairs,  and  Baxter  was  anxious  that 
a  vote  should  be  taken.  In  the  average  parliamentary  body 
Fordyce  would  have  been  branded  as  a  filibuster.  Not  so  in  the 
Senate,  where  decorum  has  come  to  be  a  science ;  where  remark- 
able results  are  often  accomplished  in  a  manner  before  then 
unknown  in  deliberative  bodies — the  solemnity  with  which  a 
senator  makes  plausible  his  astounding  purpose,  the  while  he 
eloquently  protests  his  reverence  for  the  rules.  Elsewhere  this 
would  be  called  dissembling ;  yet  senators  do  not  dissemble.  In 
passing,  it  may  also  be  said  that  not  a  few  of  the  elder  statesmen 
of  the  body  are  most  proficient  in  construing  the  rules  their  way. 
If  a  rule  happens  to  bother  them,  by  having  it  suitably  construed 
for  the  occasion,  a  new  precedent  is  made;  the  precedent  then 
becomes  the  rule. 

Behold,  then,  the  gravity  with  which  Fordyce  resumed  his 
seat,  after  making  a  fruitless  "disturbance"  as  each  pair  was  an- 
nounced. Note,  also,  how  Brady  was  nodding  his  approval  of 
Fordyce's  efforts,  as  a  sign  that  Twain  had  not  yet  arrived,  and 
how  every  other  senator  seemed  to  acquiesce  in  Fordyce's  dila- 
tory tactics. 

Why  did  not  some  senator  call  him  to  order?  Because  no 
senator  ever  knows  when  he  himself  may  wish  to  pervert  the 
rules. 

Behold,  also,  Baxter's  smile,  deeper  and  broader  than  usual, 
and  the  pleased  expression  on  Conservative  faces  (Brady  had 
now  abandoned  hope),  when  the  clerk,  after  twice  checking  the 
names,  turned  to  hand  the  long  white  tally  sheet  to  the  presiding 
officer. 

The  next  moment  the  vote  would  be  announced.  It  would  be 
a  tie.  The  Vice  President  would  take  the  sheet,  nonchalantly, 


THE     SENATE     DAZED  37 

and  assuming  an  air  of  unconcern  (cautiously  examining  the  top 
of  the  roll  to  be  certain  in  regard  to  the  way  Baxter  had  voted, 
for  it  had  been  quite  awhile  since  then,  with  Fordyce  talking  so 
long),  he  would  simply  say,  "The  chair  votes  aye;  the  amend- 
ment is  adopted." 

Then  the  occupants  of  the  reserved  stalls — the  consolida- 
tors — would  nudge  each  other,  as  they  sat  there  closely  packed 
together.  They  would  smile,  exchange  knowing  glances  and 
whisper  their  amens,  as  if  a  great  truth  in  pious  endeavor  had 
just  been  revealed. 

But  the  clerk,  taking  another  glance  at  the  sheet,  discovered 
a  trivial  error  in  his  check  marks.  Great  care  is  always  exer- 
cised in  this  behalf.  He  faced  his  desk  again,  stooped  and 
picked  up  a  pen  with  which  to  make  the  correction.  One  mo- 
ment was  enough  for  this  duty,  but  the  penholder  eluded  him, 
and  it  took  two. 

The  Vice  President  was  now  standing  erect  in  his  place,  even 
with  his  hand  extended  to  take  the  sheet,  his  lips  already  pursed 
to  announce  the  vote. 

Moments  like  these,  when  the  result  of  a  roll  call  is  about  to 
be  declared  by  the  chair,  notably  so  if  it  be  a  vote  on  an  impor- 
tant question,  are  moments  of  the  greatest  quiet  in  the  Senate. 
Everybody  is  still.  Senators  and  others  on  the  floor  do  not  stir. 
Occupants  of  the  galleries,  who  tread  softly  as  they  enter  or 
depart,  now  make  an  effort  against  breathing,  so  they  may  hear 
the  important  announcement. 

Again  the  clerk  was  turning  toward  the  presiding  officer,  and 
extending  his  hand,  the  one  with  the  tally  sheet  in  it. 

Was  it  a  sudden  breeze  entering  through  the  green  baize  door, 
flying  open  at  this  instant,  that  swept  the  sheet  from  the  clerk's 
grasp  ? — for  there  it  was  at  his  feet.  Impossible !  There  is 
never  a  breeze  in  the  Senate — none  that  enters  through  the  green 
doors.  And  Fordyce  had  stopped  talking. 


38  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Was  it  the  force  of  the  almost  flying  body  of  the  page  that 
came  through  the  green  door,  and,  with  a  single  bound,  landed 
near  the  chair,  that  displaced  the  sheet  and  sent  it  noiselessly  to 
the  soft  red  carpet  below  ? 

None  of  these  whatever.  In  verity,  it  was  what  the  page  said 
to  the  Vice  President  in  a  subdued  shriek ;  all  the  clerks  heard 
it.  It  was  the  same  that  other  pages  that  came  through  other 
doors  with  the  outside  news  on  their  lips  were  now  saying  to 
senators,  who  were  anxiously  waiting  for  the  concluding  act  in 
the  little  drama,  for  they  were  in  need  of  nourishment.  It  was 
now  long  past  the  dinner  hour,  and  there  had  been  no  break  in 
the  proceedings  so  as  to  allow  senators  to  refresh  themselves. 

The  clerks  and  other  employes  about  the  Senate  are  the 
brightest  men  to  be  found.  They  must  know  almost  everything ; 
not  so  much  is  required  even  of  a  senator.  So,  most  of  them 
knew  that  Twain  had  been  expected  by  the  Altrocrats  for  hours ; 
that  the  Conservatives  hoped  he  would  not  arrive,  perhaps  never. 
Of  course  they  knew,  too,  that  his  vote  would  defeat  the  amend- 
ment. The  very  .atmosphere  of  the  chamber  was  now  sur- 
charged with  this  knowledge.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
nerves  of  men  are  much  overwrought  and  least  prepared  for  a 
great  shock. 

Therefore  it  was,  when  the  first  page  exclaimed,  "Senator 
Twain  is  killed,  or  something  horrible !"  and  other  pages  echoed 
it,  that  the  clerk,  the  sheet  falling  from  his  hand,  stood  as  if 
petrified;  that  Fordyce,  always  alert  in  his  leadership,  solemnly 
moved  to  adjourn ;  that  the  Vice  President,  after  an  awful  sus- 
pense, doubtfully  and  mechanically  put  the  question ;  that  sen- 
ators were  so  dazed  they  voted  neither  yea  nor  nay,  but,  recover- 
ing themselves  only  when  the  gavel  fell  to  mark  the  adjourn- 
ment, gathered  in  little  groups  about  the  chamber  to  speculate 
upon  the  terrible  tidings. 

This  strange  and  startling  proceeding  took  place  soon  after 


THE     SENATE     DAZED  39 

Enid  Grey  bade  Ben  wheel  away  from  the  side  entrance  of  the 
Willington,  and  her  woman's  intuition  had  fathomed  the  mys- 
tery to  its  lowest  depths,  leaving  no  doubt  in  her  foretelling 
mind  in  regard  to  the  whole  depressing  affliction;  after  Aimee 
had  assisted  her  to  her  room ; — about  the  time,  alas !  that  the 
fever  came  to  burn  its  debilitating  course  through  her  young 
blood. 

It  was,  moreover,  not  so  very  long  after  Ralph  Bolston  had 
finished  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  Willington  premises, 
having  met  the  bereaved  girl  in  the  great  court  and  prevailed 
upon  her  to  return  quietly  to  her  home.  It  was  after  he  failed 
to  find  any  trace  of  Twain,  and,  being  now  convinced  that 
Splicer  had  not  been  there  at  all,  had  gone  to  "The  Record" 
office  to  confer  with  the  editor  and  tell  him  of  his  daughter's 
piteous  predicament,  and  of  his  own  fruitless  efforts  to  find  the 
missing  senator. 

It  was  then  that  Grey  tried  to  get  Brady  at  the  Senate,  and 
was  told  that  Brady  was  busy;  then  that  he  called  up  the 
Sergeant-at-Arms,  merely  saying  there  was  no  doubt  in  his  mind 
that  Twain  had  been  abducted,  and  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  ex- 
claimed to  his  assistant  and  the  pages  that  were  in  the  room — 
"Great  God!  Senator  Twain  has  been  foully  dealt  with! 
Notify  the  Vice  President  and  the  senators." 

Is  it  surprising,  then,  that  the  Senate,  under  these  distressing 
circumstances,  should  have  been  plunged  into  a  state  of  confu- 
sion, and  that  senators  were  so  completely  dazed  that  they  voted 
neither  yea  nor  nay  when  Fordyce  moved  to  adjourn? 

There  were  many  "disturbances"  in  the  Senate  during  the  ses- 
sions that  ensued.  With  the  close  division  between  parties, 
amounting  to  a  tie  vote,  with  Twain  absent  and  unpaired,  each 
party  feared  the  other.  In  former  days,  before  the  two  old 
parties  consolidated,  when  the  Republicans  were  as  two  to  one 
of  the  Democrats,  there  was  no  danger  of  surprises ;  it  was  as  if 


40  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

there  had  been  no  Democrats  so  little  were  they  regarded  as  a 
political  factor.  And,  having  waxed  powerful  through  devo- 
tion to  the  fleshpots,  the  Republicans  "played  and  frolicked  in 
the  ocean  of  bounty"  in  total  disregard  of  the  minority,  and  with 
as  little  regard  for  economic  morality ;  for  it  was  an  age  of  cal- 
culators. 

As  time  passed,  the  calculators  came  to  be  more  considerate  of 
Insurgency  than  they  had  been  of  the  more  ancient  and  impotent 
Democracy,  until,  finally,  this  militant  force,  supplemented  by 
unfettered  Democrats,  led  the  way  to  a  formidable  movement 
based  primarily  upon  altruism.  From  the  regenerative  effects 
of  the  process,  the  Altrocratic  party  sprang  into  existence  and 
came  to  its  present  state  of  power — Insurgency  per  se  having 
failed  against  the  soulless  reign  of  Greed. 

It  was  but  natural  that  there  should  come  a  realignment  of 
political  interests;  it  was  inevitable  that  this  must  occur,  for 
the  old  organizations  had  gone  to  seed;  the  propitious  hour  of 
their  bloom  had  passed.  And,  too,  their  patron  saints  were 
dead;  Jeffersonianism  had  degenerated  to  vacuous  preachment, 
and  only  a  faint  memory  of  the  precepts  of  the  immortal  Lincoln 
now  survived.  Party  principles  had  been  capitalized,  and  were 
now  the  property  of  monopoly.  There  was  no  longer  an  issue 
upon  which  Republicans  and  Democrats  seriously  disagreed. 

It  was  during  the  slow  transformation  from  the  old  to  the  new 
dispensation,  with  Stalwarts  and  Insurgents  both  contending 
for  spoil,  that  Baxter  rose  to  the  zenith  of  his  portentous  renown ; 
that  he  acquired  the  wonderful  smile  which  served  to  tantalize 
poor  Fordyce  almost  beyond  endurance.  The  Altrocratic  leader 
withstood  the  Conservative  taunts  in  regard  to  Twain's  non- 
committal attitude  on  the  Purchase  bill  with  commendable 
equanimity.  He  felt  deep  down  in  his  heart,  and  the  country 
believed  with  him,  that  Twain  was  sound  in  principle — or  had 
been,  until  his  political  light  (if  that  were  all)  was  snuffed  out 


THE     SENATE     DAZED  41 

by  violence  at  the  hands  of  evil  men.  Yet,  in  the  most  striking 
passages  of  his  speeches ;  when  the  gallery  visitors  and  senators, 
too,  were  hanging  upon  his  masterfully  constructed  sentences, 
formulated  from  a  boundless  vocabulary  of  words,  the  while 
Baxter's  scintillating  smile  reflecting  upon  him  like  the  blinding 
flash  of  a  searchlight,  Fordyce  all  but  lost  his  powers  of  elo- 
quence. At  the  end  of  his  daily  effort  to  impeach  the  Conser- 
vative leader  there  was  only  one  solace  for  him — well,  in  truth, 
Fordyce  was  being  speeded  irretrievably  to  intemperance. 

In  the  stirring  debates  to  which  Twain's  remarkable  disap- 
pearance gave  rise  there  were  challenges  and  counter  challenges, 
accusations,  denials  and  apologies.  Strange  how  party  lines  had 
changed.  Where,  during  ante  bellum  days,  the  fiery  southerners 
were  given  to  violent  resentment  of  northern  political  domin- 
ance, and  voted  their  Democracy  dogmatically;  where  the  Re- 
publicans, who,  while  building  their  party  out  of  the  cause  and 
the  fruit  of  the  Civil  War,  for  years  had  looked  upon  their  op- 
ponents as  descendants  of  demons,  born  of  the  succubi — now, 
old  party  lines  were  obliterated ;  there  was  an  amalgamation  of 
fresh  political  interests;  an  interlacing  of  new  party  ties;  an 
intermingling  of  views  and  a  personal  association  and  adhesion 
that  knew  no  division  save  that  which  marks  the  difference  be- 
tween the  Altruist  and  the  Egoist,  between  patriotism  and 
pelf.  This  new  demarkation  gave  politics,  especially  in  the 
Senate,  a  transcendent  coloring — on  the  one  side  the  cause  of 
Man;  on  the  other  the  cause  of  Mammon;  with  the  Conserva- 
tives growing  fewer  and  fewer  in  number  until,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  a  single  senator,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Vice  President's 
vote  alone  saved  them  from  complete  overthrow. 

The  tragic  aspects  of  the  case  made  both  sides  pause.  Under 
the  rules  the  suspended  vote  on  the  second  amendment  to  the 
Purchase  bill  was  the  "unfinished  business."  Being  the  unfin- 
ished business,  it  should  have  been  disposed  of  the  next  morning. 


42  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Yet,  even  Baxter  did  not  call  attention  to  this  fact.  The  sub- 
ject came  up  unexpectedly  several  days  later,  when,  in  the  heat 
of  debate,  Burrill  ironically  congratulated  the  Conservatives 
upon  their  "respectful  consideration  for  the  absent  senator,  and 
their  recognition  of  the  outrageous  nature  of  the  measures  re- 
sorted to  in  effecting  his  removal  from  the  scene  of  his  faithful 
services." 

That  discussion  would  turn  before  long  to  a  subject  now  on 
the  lips  of  all  the  people  was  inevitable;  and  that  Burrill's 
caustic  words  should  arouse  some  indiscreet  Conservative  was 
to  have  been  expected. 

Senator  Koppinger,  reputed  to  know  more  about  stocks  than 
of  statesmanship,  challenged  BurriU's  remarks  as  an  "undigni- 
fied aspersion,"  and  asked  him  to  suggest  a  method  whereby 
the  suspended  roll  call  might  be  dealt  with.  Koppinger  was 
not  familiar  with  the  rules,  that  was  evident;  still,  he  was  a 
personal  friend  of  Twain's,  and  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other, 
greatly  regretted  his  absence.  No  senator,  perhaps,  was  closer 
to  Twain  than  Koppinger  was. 

"Never !"  exclaimed  Burrill.  "Let  the  unrecorded  vote  stand 
as  a  fitting  memorial  always  to  remain  in  the  Senate's  archives — 
a  yawning  gap  in  the  proceedings  into  which,  down  to  the  end 
of  all  time,  designing  men  may  look  to  see  the  terrible  conse- 
quence of  consolidation  and  its  crimes.  It  will  be  an  appro- 
priate resting  place,  too,  for  the  amendment  offered  by  the  dis- 
tinguished Conservative  leader." 

This  brought  Halsey  to  his  feet. 

"The  senator  knows  the  rule,"  said  Halsey.  "Why  did  not 
he  close  the  gap  by  asking  that  the  vote  be  recorded?" 

"The  amendment  is  not  ours,"  replied  Burrill ;  "therefore  we 
have  no  affirmative  interest  in  the  unrecorded  vote.  Thank  God 
they  are  neither  of  them  the  property  of  Altrocracy !" 

"The  senator  is  jointly  interested  with  every  other  senator  in 


THE     SENATE     DAZED  43 

the  orderly  procedure  of  the  body,"  remarked  Halsey,  smoothly 
and  persuasively.  "Being  so  greatly  troubled  about  the  matter 
the  senator  might  now  ask  that  the  vote  be  recorded." 

"I  prefer  that  it  remain  forever  unrecorded,"  exclaimed  Bur- 
rill.  "I  will  make  no  resistance,  however,  if  some  Conservative 
asks  it,  though  it  be  the  author  of  the  amendment  himself." 

"The  author  of  the  amendment  is  not  in  his  seat  at  this  mo- 
ment, but  if  he  were  here  I  doubt  if  he  would  care  to  deprive  the 
other  side  of  a  theme  of  discussion,"  answered  Halsey,  sarcas- 
tically. 

"No  Conservative  senator  will  do  it !"  shouted  Burrill.  "Well 
he  knows  the  fate  of  his  hazardous  cause  if  he  did." 

"That  remark  will  be  accepted  in  certain  quarters  as  the  acme 
of  statesmanship."  This  was  what  Halsey  said,  not  for  the 
reporters'  ears,  but  for  the  edification  of  his  seatmates  and  him- 
self. 

And  no  Conservative  seemed  inclined  to  accept  Burrill's  chal- 
lenge. 

Nor  did  the  Vice  President  exercise  his  authority  to  declare 
the  result  of  the  roll  call,  for  that  would  have  required  the  cast- 
ing of  his  own  vote  to  determine  the  fate  of  the  second  amend- 
ment, now  so  intimately  associated  with  the  mysterious  disap- 
pearance of  Cornelius  Twain. 


CHAPTER  V 

A   WEDDING 

But  enough,  for  the  present,  of  the  Senate's  tergiversations. 
It  may  be  necessary  to  return  to  the  place  of  sublimated  power, 
famous  for  its  sturdy  imperturbability,  at  a  later  period  in  this 
chronicle. 

It  is  fortunate,  too,  that  the  big  world  outside  takes  itself  less 
seriously  than  the  Senate,  else  there  would  be  no  end  of  material 
with  which  to  feed  the  American  appetite  for  humor.  Again, 
the  Senate  as  a  whole  is  totally  devoid  of  imagination,  and  it  is 
even  doubtful  if  any  member  of  the  body  will  ever  be  able  to 
comprehend  the  almost  ludicrous  part  taken  by  Andy  Akers  in 
the  disappearance  of  Twain.  Nor  did  Akers  himself  realize  the 
far-reaching  consequences  of  it,  for  he  had  only  one  purpose  in 
view,  and  a  man  with  a  single  idea  is  too  intent  upon  the  execu- 
tion of  it  to  see  the  halter  that  may  await  his  own  neck. 

He  had  been  told  it  would  be  agreeable  to  certain  gentlemen 
with  high  brows  and  acute  interest  in  legislative  matters  that 
concerned  the  guild  of  graspers  in  the  industrial  and  commercial 
world  if  Twain  could  be  detained  from  his  duties  in  the  Senate 
chamber  while  the  voting  on  the  Purchase  bill  was  in  progress. 
After  that  it  was  no  matter.  This  information  was  conveyed  to 
Akers  by  the  Honorable  William  Giddings,  a  former  member  of 
a  western  legislature,  where  Giddings  himself  had  had  some 
successful  experience  in  this  kind  of  business.  Giddings,  as 


A     WEDDING  45 

Akers  well  knew,  represented  Sam  Ives,  local  counsel  for  the  C. 
Q.  D.  Railroad,  who  was  close  to  the  Honorable  Ephraim  Fox, 
its  general  counsel.  Fox  had  been  the  colleague  of  Giddings  in 
the  legislature,  but,  on  his  accession  to  the  position  of  attorney 
in  chief  to  the  railway  company,  he  preferred  not  to  deal  directly 
with  his  old  co-legislator.  He  put  implicit  confidence  in  Ives, 
however,  as  Ives,  who  was  a  professional  lobbyist,  had  never 
failed  him  in  getting  favorable  action  upon  such  measures  as 
the  company  wanted  put  through,  or  in  sidetracking  bills  that 
were  objectionable  to  it.  In  those  eventful  days  Ives  frequently 
called  Akers  to  aid  him;  but  once  it  happened  that  Andy  had 
tied  himself  up,  for  a  handsome  contingent  fee,  in  favor  of  a 
bill  introduced  in  antagonism  of  the  company's  interests.  In 
consequence  of  their  diametrical  purposes  a  breach  resulted  be- 
tween the  two  lobbyists ;  and  when,  finally,  the  bill  was  defeated 
and  Andy  found  himself  financially  stranded,  he  went  outside 
the  capitol  building  where  he  could  see  the  figure  of  Justice 
holding  her  scales  at  the  top  of  the  dome,  and,  with  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  brazen  image,  took  a  fearful  oath  that  he  would  "camp 
on  Ives'  trail"  ever  after. 

Akers  was  a  creature  of  moods,  ugly  ones  for  the  most  part. 
He  never  forgave  those  who  were  unfortunate  enough  to  balk 
him  in  any  of  his  schemes,  however  small,  and  was  ready  to 
suffer  loss,  to  the  limit  of  his  last  dollar,  imprisonment  to  the 
end  of  time,  if  need  be — death  even — if  by  any  of  these  he  might 
visit  vengeance  upon  those  that  offended  him.  Such  was  his 
vindictive  nature,  his  relentless  antipathy. 

He  did  not  fall  in  with  Giddings'  plan  immediately.  "I'll 
consider  it,"  he  replied.  "Come  around  tomorrow." 

Then  he  wheeled  away  to  his  little  farm  in  the  hills  just  out- 
side of  Washington.  Here  several  cronies  and  their  female 
companions  joined  him  during  the  afternoon,  among  them  Mrs. 
Eva  Farnum,  buxom,  blithe  and  horsy.  Next  to  Andy  Akers, 


46  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Eva  loved  the  pretty  roadsters  of  his  modest  stables.  There 
was  a  jest  indulged  by  the  jockeys  of  Bennings'  track  that  ex- 
plained this  dual  attachment.  It  was  said  her  first  husband,  in 
a  horse  trade  with  Andy,  had  managed  to  "throw  in  his  wife  to 
boot."  Be  that  as  it  may,  Eva  and  Andy  were  comrades  from 
about  that  time,  and  on  this  very  day  they  participated  in  some 
kind  of  a  joint  marriage  ceremony  which  was  quite  as  binding, 
no  doubt,  as  had  been  her  Reno  decree  of  divorce  as  an  instru- 
ment of  marital  dissolution  from  Ben  Farnum. 

She  was  the  recipient  and  conserver  of  Akers'  confidences  as 
well,  and,  as  they  drove  to  her  home  in  the  city  on  this  the  first 
evening  of  their  honeymoon,  he  told  her  of  Giddings'  desire  that 
Twain  should  be  kept  away  from  the  Senate.  Greatly  to  her 
surprise,  he  also  said  he  intended  to  comply  with  Giddings'  re- 
quest. 

"Have  you  thought  of  the  consequences,  my  dear  Andy, 
should  Giddings  turn  on  you?" 

"What!  Bill  Giddings?"  he  exclaimed,  scornfully.  "Do 
you  suppose  I  am  relying  upon  him  for  protection  should  it  come 
to  that?  Not  on  your  sweet  life,  Eva.  This  is  a  five-ply  trans- 
action, my  dear;  I  am  the  first  ply;  Giddings  is  the  second. 
There  are  three  more.  Giddings  does  not  know  that  I  am  on ; 
he's  a  fool,  a  cheap  one  at  that.  Put  all  my  eggs  in  one  basket  ? 
You  do  me  an  injustice,  Eva.  Three  more,  my  honey !"  Then 
he  laughed  sardonically.  "And  the  higher  up,  my  dear,  the 
greater  the  responsibility,  or  perhaps  I  should  say  the  greater 
the  respectability.  Besides,  Sam  Ives  is  one  of  them." 

Years  had  passed  since  the  legislative  incident  that  turned 
Akers  against  Ives.  That  was  long  before  he  met  Eva,  and  she 
knew  nothing  about  it.  Perhaps  Akers  preferred  not  to  show 
Eva  this  side  of  his  unforgiving  nature,  lest  she  flee  from  him  as 
from  a  pestilence. 


A     WEDDING  47 

"The  fifth-ply  fellow  will  never  permit  your  Andy  'to  come 
to  grief,  rest  assured  of  that." 

"But  think  of  poor  Enid  Grey.  She  loves  Twain,  as  I  love 
you,  Andy,  and  it  would  break  her  heart.  See !  There  they  go 
now,"  she  exclaimed,  pointing  to  the  senator  and  Miss  Grey  as 
they  rode  together  across  the  bridge  and  on  to  the  Stone  Mill 
bridle  path.  "What  a  splendid  chap  he  is,"  she  added  half 
sorrowfully. 

"Yes,  I've  seen  them  out  here  almost  every  day  this  spring," 
replied  Akers.  "Twain  does  not  look  well.  It  may  be  his 
mind  is  troubled.  There  is  said  to  be  a  queer  streak  in  the  fam- 
ily, way  back  yonder.  Hope  it's  too  far  back  to  catch  him. 
He's  a  good  fellow,  and  I  would  not  like  to  have  him  go 
dippy." 

But  this  was  mere  gossip.  One  can  hear  almost  anything 
about  a  senator. 

"And  she  is  delightful,  Andy,  and  so  beautiful.  I  saw  her 
shopping  this  morning,  and  heard  her  talking  to  the  manager — 
the  sweetest  voice  I  ever  heard,  Andy;  just  like  fine  music. 
What  a  shame  it  would  be." 

Even  "the  Farnum,"  as  she  was  called  by  her  intimate  ac- 
quaintances long  after  her  second  marriage,  was  not  devoid  of 
sentiment  and  womanly  sympathy.  And  she  indulged  a  liking 
for  Twain  that  always  puzzled  Andy. 

"It's  too  utterly  bad,  Eva,  but  I'm  no  Christian  Endeavorer; 
you  know  that ;  and  there's  big  money  in  it,  my  dear,  if  it  comes 
out  my  way — cash,  my  honey,  cash !" 

"Yes,  I  know,  Andy;  but  will  they  let  you  get  that  close  to  it? 
— close  enough  to — " 

"Trust  me !  If  they  knew  even  now,  that  I  was  wise — Bill 
thinks  he  knows  it  all ! — why,  that  fifth-ply  fellow  would  be 
here  in  the  morning  with  a  satchelful  of  it." 

"Call  him  on  the  long  distance  tonight,  Andy,  and  tell  him. 


48  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Don't  trust  Giddings  in  so  delicate  a  matter  as  this."  By  now 
her  woman's  sympathy  was  vanishing,  and  a  perfect  sea  of  big 
new  hats  she  saw  that  morning  when  she  was  listening  to  Enid 
Grey's  wonderful  voice  rose  before  her  gaze. 

"I  may  need  your  help,  Eva,  if  I  go  into  this.  You  know 
some  of  the  big  people,  and  they  talk  over  the  card  table.  Keep 
your  ears  open." 

"And  the  wine  flowing,"  she  added. 

Then  they  both  laughed. 

Eva  Farnum  was  an  adept  in  this  regard,  and  an  encyclopedia 
in  matters  of  social  gossip.  She  knew,  only  by  sight  of  course, 
quite  all  the  members  of  official  swelldom  in  Washington.  Her 
home  in  the  city  was  in  a  well  known  street  running  along  the 
lower  ledge  of  the  fashionable  quarter.  Among  her  nocturnal 
visitors,  besides  a  few  choice  beauties  of  her  own  sex,  were  sev- 
eral gentlemen  high  up  in  society  circles.  One  of  these  was  a 
Russian  captain,  Nicholas  Mikleskoff  by  name,  entitled  under 
European  custom  to  the  prefix  of  count.  Another  was  the  only 
son  of  Andrew  Holt,  famed  as  the  possessor  of  millions  so  fabu- 
lous in  number  that  his  chief  trouble  was  to  find  suitable  invest- 
ment of  the  increment,  although  the  junior  Holt,  now  coming 
into  his  twenty-first  year  at  a  rapid  gait,  relieved  his  father  of 
much  anxiety  in  this  regard,  his  abiding  passion  being  the  gam- 
ing table  and  the  race  track. 

It  was  from  the  small  talk  of  her  visitors  that  Mrs.  Farnum 
was  enabled  to  store  her  receptive  mind  with  valuable  knowledge 
concerning  the  personal  affairs  of  "the  best  people,"  while  the 
games  of  "bridge"  and  "draw,"  prominent  among  other  ener- 
vating pastimes  at  her  richly-furnished  residence,  were  going  on. 

How  perfectly  natural  it  was,  then,  that  she  should  know, 
almost  at  first  hands,  of  the  impecunious  Russian  captain's  love 
for  Margaret  Holt,  heiress  to  a  vast  fortune ;  of  Andrew  Holt's 
ambition  to  win  a  seat  in  the  Senate  from  the  contending  politi- 


A     WEDDING  49 

cians  of  a  border  state,  where  he  lived  in  sumptuous  style  with 
his  family  during  the  summer  months ;  of  the  prominent  figure 
Stephen  Holt,  supported  by  his  good  looks  and  his  financial  ex- 
pectancies, was  cutting  among  the  belles  of  glitterdom.  There 
was  much  else  that  she  knew. 

Bantering  remarks  concerning  these  and  kindred  current  top- 
ics fell  nimbly  from  the  unguarded  tongues  of  Mrs.  Farnum's 
special  guests  when  the  morning  hours  were  waxing  and  the 
wine  was  surging  triumphantly  in  the  blood. 

So  that  Andy  Akers,  although  he  made  it  a  point  never  to  be 
present  at  these  hilarious  meetings,  nevertheless  became  a  verit- 
able repository  for  all  kinds  of  secrets  and  confidences  that  put 
him  in  close  touch  with  inside  life  at  the  nation's  Capital ,  and 
gave  him  advantageous  fitness  for  the  duties  of  his  peculiar  pro- 
fession. 

Agreeable  to  the  appointment  that  had  been  made,  Akers 
and  Giddings  met  the  next  morning.  They  were  together  only 
a  few  minutes,  and  when  Giddings  closed  the  door  of  Akers? 
dingy  little  office  in  an  old-fashioned  three-story  building  facing 
the  Pension  bureau,  he  strode  hopefully  through  Judiciary 
Square  toward  the  Capitol.  Arriving  at  the  great  marble  struc- 
ture on  the  hill,  he  threaded  the  labyrinthian  corridors  until  he 
came  to  what  was  perhaps  the  most  uninviting  committee  room 
in  "the  Crypt" — and  there  are  many  such  in  that  part  of  the 
building.  The  Crypt,  so-called  because  of  its  subterranean 
character,  was  constructed  many  years  ago  at  enormous  expense 
for  the  accommodation  of  minority  senators  and  members  and 
their  clerks.  It  was  here,  in  dampness  and  in  gloom,  until  the 
modern  brilliantly-lighted  and  more  airy  office  buildings  were 
erected,  that  newly-elected  legislators  were  obliged  to  take  their 
first  lessons  in  statesmanship — the  dictation  of  thousands  of 
answers  to  self-seeking,  complaining  constituents  who  imagined 
that  the  life  of  a  congressman  was  a  bed  of  roses  laid  on  a 


50  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

lambswool  mattress  with  golden  springs  under  it.  But  this  was 
only  one  of  the  enchantments  that  distance  lent  to  the  view. 
And  yet  this  disillusion  had  its  compensation  for  the  legislator, 
for  if  he  succeeded  in  persuading  his  people  that  his  services 
were  too  valuable  to  be  dispensed  with,  one  day  he  would  be 
graduated  to  better  quarters  on  the  upper  floors,  which  was  only 
one  of  the  poor  fruits  of  long  service.  And  when  his  minority 
party  had  convinced  the  country  that  the  last  tariff  law  was 
purposely  loaded  with  vicious  provisions  that  would  "oppress 
the  multitude  of  consumers  and  make  millions  for  the  few,"  or 
"bankrupt  the  capitalist  and  hunger  the  many" — dependent,  of 
course,  upon  whichever  party  was  in  power; — when  the  Crypt 
dweller  transformed  or  "reformed"  the  nation's  politics  and 
turned  the  minority  into  a  majority,  he  would  then  be  entitled 
to  the  "best"  committee  room  and  to  additional  clerks,  along 
with  other  perquisites  that  belonged  to  his  new  responsibilities. 
And  still,  I  have  known  senators  who,  after  thus  "coming  into 
their  own,"  as  was  sometimes  said,  had  expressed  a  desire  to  go 
back  to  the  simpler  legislative  life  in  the  Crypt.  Such  is  the 
reward  of  ambition. 

Giddings'  object  in  going  to  the  Capitol  after  his  interview 
with  Akers  was  not  of  very  great  moment ;  in  a  measure  he  al- 
ready knew  that  a  vote  on  the  Purchase  bill  was  near  at  hand, 
but  Akers  had  insisted  that  he  must  know  positively,  or  as  defi- 
nitely as  possible.  There  is  no  way  by  which  knowledge  of  this 
character  can  be  reduced  to  certainty;  and  yet  there  are  old 
employes  of  the  Senate  who  make  a  study  of  such  things,  and 
have  been  known  to  indulge  in  some  remarkably  accurate  opin- 
ions. It  was  one  of  these  ancient  Moseses  that  Giddings  sought 
in  the  dingy  committee  room  of  the  Crypt.  Afterward  he  re- 
turned to  Akers'  office  and  made  report. 

"One  week  is  a  very  short  time  in  which  to  get  ready  for  a 
business  like  this  and  carry  it  to  a  finish,"  was  Akers'  reply.  "But 


A     WEDDING  51 

I'll  do  the  best  I  can.  Will  Ives  walk  up  to  the  gun,  Bill,  if 
necessary?  I  know  he's  got  nerve,  but  has  he  got  enough  for 
this  high  class  event?  It  won't  be  any  clambake,  this  won't, 
Bill.  I'm  not  afraid  of  you;  you're  good  grit.  But  if  Sam  gigs 
we're  gone — that's  all." 

"It's  the  biggest  thing  Sam  ever  tackled,  Andy,  and  you  know 
the  bigger  the  boodle  the  harder  Sam  fights.  He's  sure  safe. 
But  of  course,  Andy,  there  ain't  going  to  be  any  violence ;  only 
a  brief  detention  as  it  were — a  slight  interruption  of  the  treacle- 
fest  out  at  Grey's ;  then  he'll  come  back  to  her  more  loving  than 
ever,  and  be  glad  to.  She  won't  know  what  happiness  is  till 
then." 

"That's  all  very  fine,  Bill;  but  you  don't  have  to  do  the  job 
yourself.  Getting  him  away  from  her  is  the  sticker.  Maybe 
she'll  have  to  go,  too.  Then  old  Grey  would  just  pull  the  God- 
dess of  Liberty  off  the  top  of  the  bungalow  up  there.  ( It  looks 
like  an  Indian  chief  anyway,  but  that  don't  signify.)  Whew! 
but  wouldn't  her  father  rip  up  things  with  that  'Record'  of  his? 
And  the  Government  would  simply  have  to  do  something, 
whether  it  was  the  right  thing  or  not.  Now,  Bill,  I'm  going  to 
hold  you  personally  responsible  for  Sam's  conduct.  If  he  quits, 
you've  got  to  kill  him.  If  you  don't,  I'll — " 

"Don't  say  it,  Andy.  You  won't  have  to  do  anything  quite  so 
unparliamentary  as  that.  Remember,  we're  dealing  with  a  lot 
of  distinguished  gentlemen,  not  highwaymen  or  the  like.  Sam 
was  alderman  of  his  town  for  many  years,  and  Twain's  in  the 
Senate.  See !" 

Akers  smiled  grimly. 

A  full  week  passed  before  he  again  saw  Eva  Farnum.  He 
came  in  very  late  one  night,  after  Eva's  guests  had  gone  away 
and  she  herself  was  in  bed,  letting  himself  into  the  house  through 
a  back  entrance  that  led  to  the  pantry.  Andy  had  formed  an 
early  habit  of  taking  a  late  "snack."  As  he  sat  munching  at 


52  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  scattered  remnants  of  cheese  and  crackers  and  the  remains 
of  a  lobster  Newburg,  washing  them  down  with  a  bottle  of  flat 
beer  that  seemed  to  be  waiting  for  him  in  the  iceless  cooler,  Eva 
came  down.  She  squatted  quickly  on  an  old  carpet-covered 
hassock,  drawing  one  small  pink-white  foot  up  under  her,  and 
looked  at  Andy  through  wondering  eyes  somewhat  bleared  by 
the  long  hours  she  had  been  keeping  during  his  extended  ab- 
sence; and  the  Russian  captain,  Stephen  Holt  and  their  com- 
panions had  played  long  and  hard  the  previous  evening,  linger- 
ing over  their  midnight  repast  far  into  the  morning  to  discuss  the 
strange  happenings  of  the  past  two  days. 

"Did  you  do  it,  Andy?"  she  asked. 

"That  would  be  telling,"  he  replied. 

Then  he  lit  a  cigar  and  leaned  back  in  his  chair,  puffing  rings 
of  smoke  and  watching  them  complacently  as  they  curled  toward 
the  ceiling.  Eva  was  greatly  puzzled.  How  was  it  possible  for 
him  to  be  so  serene  and  self-satisfied,  and  all  civilization  agog 
over  the  atrociousness  of  the  crime — the  kidnapping  of  an  Am- 
erican senator — and  he,  Andy  Akers,  her  newest  husband,  the 
immediate  author  of  it  ? 

"I  am  sorry  you  told  me  anything,"  she  said,  and  she  looked 
deeply  hurt. 

"Well,  he's  gone,  isn't  he?"  remarked  Akers. 

"And  I'm  sorry  for  that,  too,  Andy." 

Whereupon  he  pulled  a  thick  package  of  crisp  bills  from  an 
inside  pocket  and  slowly  dealt  five  of  them  off  the  top.  Return- 
ing the  package,  which  was  altogether  too  large  to  admit  of  being 
rolled,  to  the  receptacle  in  his  waistcoat,  he  laid  the  five  one  hun- 
dred dollar  bills  on  her  lap. 

"Say  no  more  about  it,"  said  he,  "but  tell  me  how  your  friends 
take  it.  Are  they  disturbed?" 

"They  talked  of  nothing  else  last  night,  and  seemed  greatly 
excited.  The  Holt  kid  says  it  will  bring  on  a  political  revolu- 


A     WEDDING  53 

tion,  and  there'll  be  more  shooting  and  hanging  than  anything." 

"Rot!"  exclaimed  Andy.  "That  youngster's  mind  wobbles, 
what  little  he  has." 

"And  the  Russian  declared  that  what  this  country  needed  was 
a  Siberia,  where  murderers,  abductors  and  the  like  could  be  per- 
petually penalized.  Those  were  his  very  words." 

"Satan  rebuking  sin,"  replied  Andy,  who  had  not  learned  this 
by  reading  but  by  absorption.  Giddings  was  inclined  to  be 
bookish,  and  was  full  of  pat  proverbs.  "What  about  the  women 
— the  Greys?"  asked  Andy. 

"The  kid  says  that  Miss  Enid  is  just  plumb  comfoozled,  what- 
ever that  is.  And  did  you  see  "The  Record?"  It  says  hell  is 
yawning  for — " 

"Of  course  it  would  get  excited,"  interrupted  Andy.  "Old 
Grey's  been  reforming  things  in  his  paper  so  long  he  don't  know 
how  to  take  a  joke  any  more." 

"A  joke,  Andy?  I  can't  understand  you,  dear.  But  you 
haven't  yet  told  me  if  you — " 

"I'm  going  to  bed,  Eva;  I'm  sleepy." 

And  he  must  have  been,  for  he  was  scarcely  on  his  pillow  until 
he  was  snoring  peacefully,  like  a  man  without  even  a  shadow 
of  guilt  on  his  mind.  Eva  was  greatly  distressed.  She  could 
not  fathom  the  cause  of  his  optimism,  but  lay  awake  long  after 
daylight  pondering  the  problem,  holding  the  precious  bank 
notes  tightly  in  her  hand. 


CHAPTER  VI 

MARGARET  HOLT'S  DOUBTS 

Two  weeks  had  now  passed  by  since  the  disappearance  of 
Cornelius  Twain.  The  public  mind,  so  used  to  violent  sensa- 
tions, was  again  assuming  a  normal  attitude,  albeit  the  scarlet 
press  continued  to  cry  to  Heaven  (at  very  long  distance)  for 
avengement. 

Poor  Enid  Grey,  recovered  from  the  first  heavy  blow,  and 
advised  by  Doctor  Richardson,  was  taking  the  air,  driving  with 
her  mother,  but  not  among  the  Maryland  hills,  as  formerly. 
She  preferred  unfamiliar  places — the  unworked  roads  leading 
through  the  solitudes  of  Virginia's  deep  woods,  far  beyond 
Mount  Vernon,  where  the  first  American  President,  more  than 
a  century  ago,  followed  the  hounds  over  his  vast  estate,  indulg- 
ing hopeful  meditations  concerning  the  future  glory  of  the  new 
Republic !  It  is  amidst  such  simple  scenes  as  these  that  the 
perturbed  emotions  are  soothed;  that  the  fevered  mind  is 
cooled  and  strengthened ;  that  the  spirit  is  reendowed. 

She  avoided  discussion  of  the  horrifying  subject  even  with 
her  mother,  and  reluctantly  asked  the  driver  to  turn  toward  the 
city  only  when  the  shades  of  evening  came  to  emphasize  the 
gloom  of  her  despair.  After  a  few  days  a  note  of  cheerfulness 
could  be  detected  in  her  voice,  and  a  new  light  in  her  eyes  be- 
spoke the  slow  return  of  healthful  animation.  Some  mysterious 
influence,  best  understood  by  psychologists,  perhaps,  seemed  to 


MARGARET     HOLT'S     DOUBTS  5S 

tell  her  there  was  hope.  Until  now  she  had  listened  dreamily 
to  her  father's  vague  speculations — mere  attempts  to  console 
her;  how  well  she  knew  it — and  the  many  letters  of  sympa- 
thy from  her  intimate  friends  remained  unopened  on  her  desk. 
She  saw  no  callers  save  Margaret  Holt,  who  came  each  morn- 
ing, bringing  a  great  fresh  rose.  Better  still,  Margaret  brought 
the  sunshine  of  her  resplendent  nature;  yet  her  visits  always 
ended  in  tears  for  both  of  them  and  this  but  added  to  the 
depression. 

There  had  been  nothing  of  serious  moment  in  Margaret 
Holt's  happy  life  to  stir  the  deeper  emotions — no  disappoint- 
ment nor  other  calamity  to  cause  her  to  suffer.  For  almost 
twenty-three  years  had  she  known  the  joy  that  envelops  and 
takes  possession  of  healthful,  wholesome  creatures ;  and  she  was 
an  only  daughter,  too,  worshipped  by  indulgent  and  opulent 
parents  and  beloved  by  all.  Nor  as  yet  had  Captain  Mikles- 
koff's  passionate,  almost  fierce  protestations  of  love  served  to 
rouse  the  corresponding  response  that  surely  abides  in  hearts 
like  hers.  And  if  one  reminded  her  of  the  existence  of  Page 
Bannister,  the  Altrocratic  aspirant  for  the  Presidency,  whom 
she  met  at  the  home  of  Enid  Grey  only  a  month  ago,  so  little 
did  she  know  of  public  men  or  care  about  public  affairs,  her 
probable  answer  would  not  have  been  at  all  surprising:  "He 
is  something  or  other  in  politics,  I  believe,  but  I  cannot  recall 
just  what.  Oh,  yes,  he  has  aspirations  to  be  a  candidate  for 
office;  that's  it — a  very  pleasant  gentleman,  indeed,  with  a 
firm,  serious  face,  suggesting  the  classical,  and  such  a  winning 
smile."  Margaret  would  at  least  have  retained  a  faint  recol- 
lection of  the  striking  features.  And  yet,  she  was  not  aware 
of  the  deep  impression  she  had  left  upon  his  busy  mind.  How, 
then,  could  she  be  expected,  in  view  of  her  exceptional  lack 
of  sophistication  anent  the  poignant  experiences  that  come  to. 


56  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

so  many  of  us,  to  fathom  the  anguish  that  was  tearing  re- 
morselessly at  the  heart  of  her  disconsolate  friend? 

"One  is  so  greatly  depressed  by  this  early  Summer  heat, 
Enid,  dear,  as  to  be  altogether  miserable.  Papa  says  it  is 
delightfully  cool  in  the  mountains.  He  sailed  down  from 
Holtleigh  in  the  dirigible  this  morning,  and  is  trying  to  per- 
suade mamma  to  return  with  him,  but  he  will  fail,  for  she 
detests  air  machines  and  will  not  go  near  one  of  them,  the 
precious  silly.  Still,  we  are  preparing  to  go  to  the  mountain 
home  as  soon  as  may  be,  leaving  this  sweltering  place  to  its 
fate.  Come  with  us,  dear,  until  Ashhurst  is  ready  for  you. 
Please  do  not  refuse." 

"I  had  not  given  the  mountains  a  thought,  Margy,  with  all 
•else  on  my  mind.  Perhaps  it  will  be  better ;  and  I  would  miss 
you  so  much.  Yes,  I  will  go.  How  kind  and  thoughtful  you 
-are  always.  Thank  you,  too,  for  the  rose,  which  seems  to  nod 
its  approval  of  your  plan." 

So  it  was  settled  that  the  two  dear,  sweet  friends — one  now 
the  epitome  of  sadness  and  the  other  the  embodiment  of 
gladness — would  soon  take  themselves  to  the  Blue  Ridge  region 
for  the  remaining  summer  months. 

Still,  there  were  the  many  harassing  things  that  must  be 
.attended  to  before  they  could  be  off,  and  even  while  they  were 
embracing  each  other  as  Margaret  was  taking  her  leave,  the 
telephone  in  Enid's  "den"  just  off  her  sitting  room  began  to 
buzz. 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Enid,  much  startled  at  the  sound.  "The 
maid  must  have  switched  the  key  in  dusting  the  room  this 
morning.  The  vexatious,  noisy  thing  has  been  shut  off — ever 
since — " 

"Oh,  Enid !  never  suppress  a  telephone ;  it's  much  worse 
luck  than  to  banish  a  cat.  I  would  die  of  ennui  if  mine  failed 
to  call.  It  gives  me  a  thrill  that  is  positively  refreshing,  and 


MARGARET     HOLT'S     DOUBTS  57 

I  grasp  the  receiver  as  I  would  the  hand  of  a  long  lost  friend. 
Besides,  but  for  the  telephone  and  thoughtful  people  at  the 
other  end  who  do  not  forget  us,  we  should  be  obliged  to  depend 
upon  the  sleepy  old  newspapers  for  matrimonial  news — en- 
gagements, elopements,  even  divorces." 

By  this  time  the  buzzing  in  the  "den"  had  ceased,  and  Mar- 
garet almost  reproached  Enid  because  she  had  not  answered  it. 

"It's  Enid,  father.  Pardon  me  for  making  you  wait.  What 
is  it?  Oh!  You  are  an  old  dear,  anyway — too  indulgent  in 
my  case,  I  fear.  Yes?  Oh!  Some  one  to  dinner  tonight? 
Most  informally,  of  course.  As  you  wish,  father,  but  I'm 
afraid  I  shan't  be  very  interesting.  Still,  I'll  do  my  best. 
Margy  is  with  me,  and  she  has  persuaded  me  to  go  with  her  to 
the  cool  mountains  very  soon.  Tell  her  what?  Oh!  That  it's 
much  colder  in  Russia.  What  a  tease  you  are !  Goodbye,  dear." 

"It  may  be  cold  in  Russia,  Enid,  but  I  know  a  gentleman 
of  that  country  whose  ardor  belies  the  climate,"  said  Margaret 
with  a  sunny  laugh. 

"Paprika?"  suggested  Enid. 

"Pungent  cayenne  mixed  with  vodka,  rather,"  added  Mar- 
garet. 

Enid  was  more  cheerful  now.  How  could  it  be  otherwise 
with  her  dearest  girl  friend  as  a  companion? — a  perpetual  ray 
of  irridescence,  and  never  an  obscuring  cloud  or  shadow  to 
darken  the  enthusiasm  of  her  pleasing  temperament. 

"Oh,  I've  something  to  tell  you,  Enid — but  not  now,"  her 
exhilarating  laugh  ringing  melodiously  through  the  rooms. 

"Captain  Mikleskoff,  I  am  sure,"  exclaimed  Enid.  "Do 
tell  me.  Has  he—" 

"Yes — no.  Oh,  Enid,  such  an  ardent,  tender  speech! — like 
the  onrush  of  a  mighty  torrent — or  it  would  have  been — " 

"And  you  dammed  the  stream?" 

"Like  a  silly,"  exclaimed  Margaret.     "But  it  was  so  unex- 


58  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

pected — and  the  hour  so  late.  Of  course  I  could  not  refuse 
his  request  this  morning  that  he  be  permitted  to  come  to  Holt- 
leigh.  He  looked  quite  undone  as  if  he'd  had  a  sleepless  night. 
It  would  be  cruel  to  deny  him.  But  isn't  it  jolly !  Think  of  it ! 
To  have  stirred  the  emotions  of  a  scion  of  nobility,  a  stolid 
barbarian  from  the  frozen  zone — no,  he's  quite  civilized.  Not 
a  word  about  it,  Enid;  no  one  must  know — only  you  and  I. 
Wouldn't  the  dowagers  revel?" 

"Oh,  Margy,  you  haven't  really — " 

"Neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  dear.  Still,  I  suppose  it 
must  come  to  that  before  long.  He's  so  very  interesting,  so 
different  from  Mr. — what's  his  name? — oh,  Mr.  Bannister; 
Page  Bannister — a  very  simple  name,  isn't  it?  How  would  it 
look  on  a  visiting  card? — 'Mrs.  Page  Bannister' — " 

"  'White  House,'  "  added  Enid. 

"Or  'Countess  Nicholas  MikleskofP — " 

"  'Tsarskoi-Selo,'  Russia." 

"That  is  too  far  away,"  said  Margaret.     "Ah,  me!" 

They  were  silent  for  a  time.  Then  Enid,  who  was  very 
deeply  interested  in  her  friend's  happiness,  broke  the  silence, 
saying : 

"Mr.  Bannister  would  seek  you  for  the  true,  sweet  girl  that 
you  are,  dear,  and  his  love  would  be  lasting." 

"If  only  it  might  be  tinged  with  the  romantic,  the  have-me- 
or-I-die  quality,  like  the  Captain's,"  replied  Margaret  with  a 
cheery  laugh.  "Brother  Stephen  says  the  Captain  is  no  longer 
interested  in  the  games  or  the  horses,  but  sits  at  night  on  a 
hard  wooden  bench  beneath  the  park  trees  and  looks  at  the 
moon.  How  absurd!" 

"The  poetic  instinct,  perhaps,  my  dear.    It  may  not  be  love." 

"Yet,  his  interpretations  of  fair  Luna's  vows — but  it  is  an 
'inconstant  moon,'  isn't  it?  And  lovers  vow  to  the  moon,  not 
the  moon  to  lovers,  the  foolish  things !" 


MARGARET     HOLT'S     DOUBTS  59 

"  'At  which  time  would  I,  being  but  a  moonish  youth,  grieve, 
be  effeminate,  changeable,  longing  and  liking,'  "  quoted  Enid. 
"How  well  Shakespeare  seemed  to  know  of  lovers'  vows;  'lik- 
ing,' he  says,  not  'loving.'  And  'changeable,'  too.  May  not 
that  be  the  possible  difference  between  Mr.  Bannister  and  the 
Captain?  Besides,  Mr.  Bannister  is  so  distinguished.  Father 
says  he  is  sure  of  election  and  is  destined  to  be  a  great  leader." 

"Ah,  me!"  sighed  Margaret  again.  "It  is  a  great  problem, 
isn't  it?" 

"And  one  never  knows  beforehand  of  the  tribulation  in  it," 
added  Enid,  sorrowfully,  a  piercing  pang  in  her  heart. 

"I  would  forego  all  hope  for  myself,  Enid,  dear,  if  I  could 
only  lift  the  great  burden  that  is  crushing  you." 

"And  I  value  your  friendship  beyond  all  measure,  Margy. 
Hence  my  solicitude  for  you.  I  would  have  you  happy  in  your 
choice.  Let  your  heart  decide,  dear;  that  is  the  only  way. 
Do  not  forget  that  the  Captain's  imperial  blood  courses  through 
veins  that  may  be  swollen  with  tyranny  and  oppression,  even 
unfaithfulness. 

First,  with  abundant  gold  are  we  constrained 

To  buy  a  husband,  and  in  him  receive 

A  haughty  master.    Still  doth  there  remain 

One  mischief  than  this  mischief  yet  more  grievous, 

The  hazard  whether  we  procure  a  mate 

Worthless  or  virtuous. 

Margaret  made  no  reply.  She,  too,  had  misgivings  in  regard 
to  the  Captain's  real  motive.  Then,  as  if  to  change  the  drift 
of  discussion,  she  referred  pleasantly  to  the  informal  dinner 
which  Mr.  Grey  had  arranged  for  that  evening. 

"It  will  divert  your  mind,  Enid;  and  I  am  quite  sure  that 
splendid  Englishman  is  to  be  one  of  the  guests." 

"Dear  Mr.  Bolston,  yes,  and  Senator  Koppinger  also. 
Father  has  a  purpose  in  bringing  them  together  at  this  time, 
I  have  no  doubt." 


60  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"That  crusty  old  bachelor  senator?  How  ever  will  he  get 
rid  of  all  his  money,  Enid?  No  chick  nor  child  to  inherit  it — • 
and  he  a  woman  hater  too,  I  am  told.  Such  selfishness,  for- 
sooth !" 

"He  has  an  old  maid  sister,"  remarked  Enid. 

"And  she  is  equally  wealthy,"  added  Margaret.  "The  sur- 
vivor will  get  both  fortunes.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand.  Isn't  that  what  they  call  it?" 

"But  there  is  the  inexorable  law  of  compensation,  Margy — 
of  reward  and  punishment — and  it  cannot  be  either  repealed 
or  amended.  Nor  can  riches  escape  it." 

John  Koppinger  belonged  to  the  class  represented  by  the 
occupants  of  the  reserved  stalls  in  the  Senate  galleries,  when, 
as  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  and  according  to  the 
theory  advanced  by  some  of  the  newspapers,  they  seemed  to 
know  that  Packenham  would  stop  talking  and  sit  down  at  a 
particular  moment,  and  Packenham  didn't  disappoint  them. 

The  millionaire  senator  was  the  possessor  of  vast  properties, 
and  money  was  coming  to  him  as  easily  as  babies  to  the  hovels 
of  the  poor,  where  destitution  is  greatest.  He  had  made  early 
investments  in  low-priced  railroad  stocks,  and  had  converted 
them  at  par,  under  an  act  of  Congress,  into  many  thousands  of 
acres  of  prairie  lands  in  the  west.  Afterwards,  these  lands 
had  been  exchanged,  under  other  acts  of  Congress,  for  vast 
areas  of  valuable  timber.  In  fact,  Koppinger  was  what  at 
one  time  was  commonly  known  as  a  "lumber  baron,"  and  later 
he  was  politely  termed  a  "conservationist !"  In  common  with 
some  other  big  timber  men,  when  they  came  to  own  most  of  the 
forests,  he  believed  that  such  as  they  did  not  own  should  be 
conserved — withdrawn  from  market — thus  leaving  the  "barons" 
to  control  the  output  and  incidentally  the  price  of  lumber.  In 
furtherance  of  the  policy  of  conservation,  Koppinger  became, 
first  a  member  of  a  forestry  association,  and  subsequently  he 


MARGARET     HOLT'S     DOUBTS  61 

entered  the  Senate — "on  a  raft,"  as  a  contemporary  satirist  de- 
clared. Here,  along  with  others  of  his  sort,  he  was  classed  by 
another  writer  of  satire  as  one  kind  of  an  anarchist.  But  let 
that  pass. 

Notwithstanding  the  common  report  upon  which  Margaret 
based  her  opinion,  he  was  a  polished,  agreeable  person,  and  on 
that  account  was  a  welcome  visitor  at  the  Grey  home.  Like  all 
his  class,  he  distrusted  the  rule  of  the  people  and  was  strong  in 
his  opposition  to  the  rising  Altrocracy.  Had  he  lived  at  a  much 
earlier  period  he  would  have  been  written  down  as  a  Federalist. 

Margaret  was  very  still  and  pensive  for  a  time.  She  was 
thinking  deeply,  as  if  the  philosophy  in  Enid's  last  remark  dis- 
turbed her. 

"What  a  wonderful  woman  you  are,  Enid. .  You  always 
make  me  think  way  back  in  my  head.  Until  I  am  with  you  I 
seem  to  be  forever  cutting  my  leaves  with  a  hairpin,  which  is 
a  very  primitive  and  thoughtless  thing  for  a  woman  to  do. 
Please  remember  me  to  Mr.  Bolston.  I  like  him.  He  is  so 
different."  Here  she  paused,  but  Enid  finished  the  sentence: 

"From  others  who  come  to  us  from  abroad?  Is  that  it, 
Margy?" 

"I'm  afraid  it  is,"  she  replied. 

"I  am  so  very  glad  you  are  considering  the  subject  from  this 
point  of  view,  Margy.  Too  many  American  girls  see  only  the 
'plenteous  adumbrations'  of  rank  and  title  on  the  manly  breast 
and  do  not  pause  to  look  within.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  Mr. 
Bolston  to  say  that  his  decorations  are  very  meager." 

"Yet  he  is  of  good  family,  no  doubt.  It  must  be  so  with  one 
of  his  exceptional  qualities." 

"The  very  best,  father  tells  me — old  Irish  ancestry." 

"No  matter,  Enid;  his  deep  interest  in  this  sad  affair,  his 
solicitude  for  you,  is  a  touching  tribute  of  loyalty  to  Senator 
Twain,  whose  true  friend  he  will  prove  to  be." 


62  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"A  nobleman  without  a  title,  Margy." 

And  with  this  encomium  upon  the  scion  of  an  impoverished 
yet  proud  and  worthy  English  family,  Enid  Grey  and  Margaret 
Holt  again  embraced  each  other  and  parted  in  grateful  tears, 
to  meet  on  the  morrow  and  discuss  preparations  for  the  early 
hegira  from  the  heated  Capital. 


CHAPTER   VII 

SOME   DIPLOMATIC   LYING 

Long  before  Margaret  got  home — she  had  some  shopping  to 
do — her  telephone  was  ringing. 

"It  is  Enid,  Margy.  How  stupid  of  me  not  to  have  asked 
you  to  be  with  us  at  dinner.  I  feel  terribly  guilty.  You  will 
understand.  Don't  refuse,  please." 

Margaret  understood,  if  such  were  necessary.  She  did  not 
refuse,  although  on  her  return  from  down  town  a  messenger, 
with  a  note  and  a  bunch  of  bloom  from  the  Captain,  was  wait- 
ing. The  Captain  implored  the  privilege  of  a  call  that  even- 
ing; there  was  something  "very  important"  he  wished  to  say, 
and  he  was  sure  it  would  not  keep  until  he  could  see  her  at 
Holtleigh.  So  she  dispatched  an  answer  saying  he  might  come 
the  next  day  at  four  thirty ;  that  she  had  an  engagement  for  the 
evening.  Margaret's  conscience  did  not  reproach  itself  in  the 
least.  Why  should  it?  The  Captain  had  no  priority;  she 
disposed  of  her  time  as  she  pleased.  Besides,  she  preferred 
the  Grey  dinner  to  his  company,  for  in  the  one  case  there  would 
be  a  feast  of  reason,  in  the  other  a  mere  repetition  of  so  much 
she  had  heard  before.  This  was  not  a  state  of  mind  for  one 
suspected  of  being  in  love. 

Under  the  peculiar  circumstances,  a  sort  of  funereal  reserve 
might  be  expected  to  prevail  at  an  informal  dinner  like  the  one 
this  evening  at  Mr.  Grey's.  But,  as  yet,  the  reader  is  not  very 


64  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

well  acquainted  with  this  unusual  man.  Knowing  him  so  well, 
I  shall  enlarge  upon  him.  As  previously  said,  he  was  an 
editor ;  but  I  have  not  indicated  the  class  of  writers  to  which 
he  belonged.  He  was  a  thoughtful  man,  therefore  he  should 
not  be  put  down  off  hand  as  sympathizing  unduly  with  the 
scarlet  press,  much  less  as  being  a  member  of  that  guild  of 
devouring  sensationalists.  Remember,  too,  that  he  did  not  be- 
lieve in  "editing  his  newspaper  in  the  counting  room,"  nor 
practice  it.  It  was  this  that  contributed  to  his  other  excep- 
tional qualities  and  helped  to  make  him  powerful  in  the  field 
of  journalism.  But  his  dominant  characteristic  was  in  not  say- 
ing a  thing  editorially  for  the  sake  of  rhetorical  effect,  intended 
to  stir  the  popular  imagination  into  hysterical  wrath.  He 
preferred  to  mould  the  public  mind  so  that  it  would  find  its 
way  normally  along  the  channels  of  common  sense,  even  against 
the  lines  of  least  resistance.  Such  was  the  patriotic  purpose  of 
the  editor,  who  had  learned  to  control  his  passions.  But  with 
Arthur  Grey,  the  man,  it  was  different.  Indeed,  there  were 
two  Arthur  Greys.  The  other  one  was  imaginative,  im- 
petuous, and  he  would  have  been  dangerous  but  for  Bolston 
and  his  own  power  of  self-restraint  when  danger  was  imminent. 
The  public  did  not  know  this  one;  only  his  immediate  friends 
knew  him,  and  among  these  his  other  self  was  not  included: 
the  editor  was  a  total  stranger  to  the  man,  but  the  man  knew 
the  editor  very  well. 

Tonight  we  are  not  dining  with  the  editor;  he  is  in  his 
sanctum  counseling  moderation  in  dealing  with  the  things  called 
trusts  and  monopolies,  and  advising  these  powerful  elements  in 
our  industrial  economy  to  act  on  the  square  with  the  multitude, 
the  only  method  by  which  combinations  of  capital  may  survive 
and  be  of  lasting  benefit  to  mankind.  He  does  not  even  hint 
at  the  popular  theory  that  they  are  at  the  bottom  of  Twain's 


SOME     DIPLOMATIC     LYING  65 

misfortunes,  so  very  cautious  is  he,  while  pleading  for  justice, 
not  to  do  injustice. 

But  our  host  has  just  lit  a  cigar,  and  is  pacing  the  floor 
between  the  table  and  large,  ornate  sideboard  against  the  wall 
of  the  ample  dining-room.  Mrs.  Grey,  a  calm,  gracious,  white- 
haired  grand  dame,  and  Margaret,  Enid,  Senator  Koppinger, 
Mr.  Bolston  and  I  have  remained  in  our  seats.  My  being 
present  was  an  afterthought  of  the  host's.  Koppinger  has 
been  complimenting  the  editor  on  the  dignified  and  conserva- 
tive attitude  of  "The  Morning  Record."  It  was  this,  perhaps, 
that  moved  the  man  Grey  to  rise  rather  unceremoniously  from 
the  table. 

"A  newspaper's  policy  must  be  all  of  that,  senator,  if  it 
would  maintain  its  respectability,  come  weal  or  woe  to  any  of 
its  friends,  or  those  even  who  are  closer  to  us  than  mere 
friends."  Then,  turning  quickly  so  as  to  face  Koppinger,  and 
with  great  emphasis,  he  said:  "But,  senator,  should  it  turn 
out  that  Cornelius  Twain  has  been  abducted  and  that  the  thing 
called  'the  System'  is  responsible  for  it — there  won't  be  room 
enough  in  hell  for  the  scoundrels  I'll  help  to  send  there  for 
eternal  punishment." 

"Oh,  Arthur!"  "Father!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Grey  and  Enid 
in  unison. 

"I  quite  agree  with  Mr.  Grey,"  said  Koppinger,  quickly.  "If 
it  turns  out  that  way,  the  place  he  mentions  would  be  too  good 
for  them." 

This  put  "the  crusty  old  bachelor"  on  better  footing  in 
Margaret's  estimation,  as  her  glad  eyes  bore  witness.  "Bravo !" 
she  exclaimed.  Enid  did  not  look  up.  Her  gaze  was  fixed  in- 
tently upon  the  decoration  of  a  storm-tossed  ship  in  the  concave 
of  a  large  dish  on  the  table,  and  she  was  pale  from  suppressed 
emotion.  It  was  all  suggestive  of  her  harrowing  thoughts,  no 
doubt. 


66  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"I  apologize,  of  course,  for  my  heated  remark,"  said  Grey, 
"and  my  apology  extends  to  whatever  else  I  might  say  should 
I  give  vent  to  my  feelings  tonight." 

All  eyes  turned  toward  Koppinger,  who  was  now  smiling  in 
an  incredulous  way,  for  he  placed  no  credence  in  common  re- 
port, and,  on  account  of  his  business  connections  and  great 
wealth,  he  was  expected  to  flout  the  idea  of  monopoly's  imme- 
diate responsibility  for  the  much  bruited  outrage. 

Notwithstanding  his  emphatic  approval  of  the  editor's  pri- 
vate view,  it  is  not  certain  that  had  Koppinger  been  compelled 
to  take  sides  in  the  matter  he  would  not  have  openly  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  Master  Monger,  and  fallen  in  with  the  theory 
of  some  Conservative  newspapers  that  Twain  had  disappeared 
of  his  own  volition.  This  was  a  plausible  theory,  anyway,  for 
some  politicians,  however  honest  they  may  in  reality  prefer  to 
be,  have  been  known  to  avoid  disagreement  with  the  powerful 
interests  that  insist  upon  taking  a  hand  in  the  business  of 
selecting  senators,  even  under  the  primary  system;  which  re- 
minds me  that  Twain's  term  in  the  Senate  would  end  on  the 
fourth  of  March  following.  Indeed,  the  campaign  for  the 
choosing  of  his  successor  was  already  on,  and  Eph  Fox,  Sam 
Ives  and  their  satellites  were  on  the  ground  laying  the  wires  to 
defeat  him. 

"The  business  interests  of  the  country  would  not  stoop  to 
such  a  thing  as  abduction,"  remarked  the  senator. 

"  'The  Record'  has  been  endeavoring  to  encourage  some  one 
to  say  that  in  the  Senate,"  replied  the  editor.  "No  senator 
seems  inclined  to  do  so,  nor  even  to  dispose  of  the  unfinished 
business  now  before  the  body ;  and  should  it  fall  out  that  public 
opinion  is  right  about  it,  the  Senate  itself  will  be  the  greatest 
sufferer,  innocent  though  I  believe  it  to  be.  That  is  the  pity  of 
it,  senator." 

"All  public  men  are  under  the  ban  nowadays,  Mr.  Grey,  as  a 


SOME     DIPLOMATIC     LYING  67 

result  of  the  fierce  storm  of  denunciation  that  is  sweeping  over 
the  land,  and  it  requires  rare  courage,  indeed,  for  any  one  to 
attempt  a  defense,  either  of  himself  or  the  policies  he  believes 
in.  Whoever  essayed  to  do  so  would  merely  invite  a  fresh 
assault." 

"True,  senator,"  replied  the  editor.  "With  few  exceptions,  I 
do  not  believe  our  public  men  are  blamable  for  business  condi- 
tions. Except  insofar  as  the  multitude  are  finally  persuaded  to 
accept  as  true  what  the  politicians  say  about  one  another  in  the 
heat  of  debate,  I  concede  there  is  more  smoke  than  fire.  There 
is  another  irritating  element :  The  mails  are  crammed  with  pub- 
lications that  are  far  more  dangerous  than  the  politicians.  In 
order  to  enhance  their  circulation,  that  they  may  increase  their 
advertising  rates,  they  print  all  manner  of  hysterical  stuff,  in- 
dulging in  a  perfect  carnival  of  adjectives  about  the  general 
rottenness  of  public  affairs  and  the  corruptness  of  public  men. 
Untutored  minds  that  cannot  read  between  the  lines  are  thus 
misled  and  confused,  to  the  detriment  of  the  vast  army  of  men 
who  are  striving  to  lead  lives  of  righteousness." 

"I'm  so  glad  'The  Record'  does  not  belong  to  that  class, 
papa,"  exclaimed  Enid,  her  face  brightening. 

"Thank  you,  dear ;  the  editor  of  'The  Record'  aims  to  be  fair, 
I  believe.  But  there  is  a  deeper  reason,  Senator  Koppinger,  for 
the  suspicion  and  discontent  abroad  in  the  land  today.  The 
great  cause  is  Money  Madness.  It  had  its  inception  in  the 
minds  of  a  very  few  men,  but  it  has  gradually  spread  to  almost 
every  class  of  humanity,  until  now  it  is  a  monster  of  such  hide- 
ous mien  that  only  the  Almighty  One  is  strong  enough  to  smite 
it  to  a  finish." 

"And  He  will  do  it,"  added  Mrs.  Grey,  hopefully. 

"Yes,"  continued  Mr.  Grey,  "He  will  do  it.  It  is  beyond  the 
power  of  man — even  those  that  blew  the  evil  life  into  it." 

"And  'The  Record'  will  help  to  destroy  it,  Mr.  Grey,  will  it 


68  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

not?"  exclaimed  Margaret,  naively,  her  great  blue  eyes  fixed 
admiringly  on  our  host.  Even  the  Englishman  laughed — but 
he  was  of  Irish  descent !  "Enid's  father  is  just  splendid  any- 
way," continued  Margaret,  her  altruistic  nature  now  thor- 
oughly aroused. 

This  put  an  end,  temporarily  at  least,  to  Grey's  passionate 
arraignment  of  things,  and  the  little  company  retired  to  the 
drawing  room.  I  could  but  feel  that  it  was  the  man  Grey  that 
was  talking,  not  the  editor  of  that  name,  though  the  "man"  had 
spoken  truthfully. 

During  the  colloquy  at  the  table  my  attention  was  drawn 
to  Bolston's  quiet  demeanor.  He  sat  at  Koppinger's  right  but 
one  seat  removed  from  the  senator.  This  seat  was  occupied  by 
Miss  Holt,  who  almost  turned  her  back  upon  the  honored 
guest  of  the  evening  (honored  because  of  his  official  position) 
the  better  to  observe  the  host  as  he  paced  the  floor  behind  and 
to  the  left  of  the  Englishman.  Except  to  reply  to  the  hostess 
when  she  addressed  him,  parenthetically,  once  or  twice,  Bolston 
had  not  spoken  during  the  two  hours  or  more  we  were  in  the 
dining  room.  Although  his  head  inclined  forward  as  if  he 
were  admiring  the  carnations  and  Jacqueminot  roses  scattered 
loosely  on  a  great  center  piece  of  Sevres,  his  eyes  were  turned 
persistently  upon  Koppinger's  immobile  features.  It  is  doubt- 
ful if  he  had  ever  been  more  deeply  absorbed  in  the  study  of 
human  nature  at  any  time  during  his  special  service  at  Scotland 
Yard,  some  years  ago,  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the 
Home  Secretary,  than  he  was  tonight  in  reading  the  millionaire 
senator's  face.  And  when  we  were  in  the  drawing  room  he 
managed  to  sit  in  the  shadow  of  a  great  bunch  of  chrysanthe- 
mums that  plumed  themselves  from  a  high  Rookwood  vase  on 
a  heavy  old  mahogany  table,  from  which  vantage  place  he 
continued  his  psychological  research. 

Koppinger,  wary  politician  and  business  man  though  he  was, 


SOME     DIPLOMATIC     LYING  69 

seemed  quite  oblivious  to  it  all.  He  was  now  making  himself 
agreeable  to  Margaret,  which  turned  out  to  be  somewhat  diffi- 
cult, for  she  did  not  like  him  quite  as  well  as  she  had  thought 
she  might,  after  he  coincided  with  Mr.  Grey  in  regard  to 
crowding  the  Bottomless  Pit  with  murdered  monopolists,  be- 
cause he  had  laughed  uproariously  at  her  sympathetic  sugges- 
tion that  'The  Record'  would  help  the  Almighty  when  the  time 
came  to  smite  the  Philistines,  and  Margaret  was  only  waiting 
for  the  moment  when  she  could  counter  upon  him  for  this 
mirthful  display  at  her  expense.  She  saw  her  opportunity 
when  Koppinger,  at  a  loss  now  how  he  should  proceed  further 
in  the  face  of  Margaret's  disconcerting  manner,  reached  va- 
cantly for  a  pretty  volume  on  the  teakwood  stand  near  him. 

"Have  you  read  the  Golden  Rule,  Senator?"  she  asked. 

"N-no,  but  I've  read  criticisms  of  it  in  a  literary  periodical." 

"Do  tell  me  what  they  say  about  it,"  she  exclaimed,  deeply 
interested,  of  course. 

"Well,  literary  criticism  takes  such  a  wide  range  I  do  not 
quite  recall  what  this  particular  critic  did  say,  but  I  think  he 
said  it  was  crudely  done." 

Koppinger,  looking  as  serious  as  a  bishop,  was  now  getting 
on  so  well  with  Margaret  that  he  was  speaking  loud  enough 
for  the  rest  to  hear  him;  but,  taking  a  glance  in  the  direction 
of  Bolston,  he  saw  that  the  Englishman,  from  the  shadow  of 
the  chrysanthemums,  was  struggling  to  restrain  himself  from 
laughing  outright.  Koppinger  colored  profusely ;  yet  his  quick 
wit  came  to  the  rescue  just  in  time  to  save  him. 

"I  intend  to  read  the  Ten  Commandments  as  soon  as  I  can 
find  time  to  get  a  suitable  copy,"  he  said,  dryly.  Then  they  all 
laughed. 

"By  all  means,  senator,"  exclaimed  Grey.  "You  will  find  in 
the  volume  all  there  is  on  morals.  And  do  not  fail  to  read 
Matthew  nineteen,  twenty-four." 


70  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"The  story  of  the  rich  man  and  the  camel,  senator,"  added 
Margaret,  laughing  merrily. 

"A  mere  metaphor,"  replied  Koppinger.  "But  who  knows 
the  size  of  that  particular  needle's  eye?  In  these  days  of  big 
things  it  may  be  quite  large  enough  to  accommodate — even  me." 

"If  not,"  remarked  our  host,"  "the  American  Spike  Company 
will  see  to  it  that  one  of  ample  dimensions  is  installed;  and, 
should  the  Spike  Company  need  help,  it  will  have  only  to  apply 
to  the  First  Mortgage  Bank,  of  New  York,  which  assisted  it  a 
few  years  ago,  after  a  visit  to  the  White  House,  in  taking  over 
the  Southern  Soot  Company,  in  violation  of  law,  in  order  to 
prevent  a  panic.  Ye  gods !"  exclaimed  Grey,  who  had  been  a 
close  observer  of  current  events  and  was  sometimes  inclined  to 
sarcasm. 

Bolston  had  withdrawn  his  persistent  gaze  from  Koppinger's 
direction  and  was  now  talking  to  Enid,  in  a  modulated  tone. 

"Senator  Twain  has  an  aunt  in  Boston,  I  am  told." 

"Yes,"  she  answered,  "his  father's  half  sister,  who  is  very 
greatly  devoted  to  him,  as  he  is  to  her." 

"Do  you  know  her?"  he  inquired. 

"No,  but  he  has  often  spoken  of  her  to  me.  He  visited  her 
for  a  week  only  recently." 

"Have  you  her  address?" 

"Yes.  She  lives  in  Charles  street,  I  do  not  recall  the  num- 
ber, but  I  have  it." 

"Do  you  mind  giving  it  to  me?" 

"I  have  it  upstairs.  If  you  will  excuse  me  I  will  get  it  for 
you." 

"And  her  name?" 

"I  think  he  never  called  her  by  name." 

Enid  returned  shortly  and  handed  the  Englishman  a  card 
on  which  was  written  the  address  of  Senator  Twain's  Boston 


SOME     DIPLOMATIC     LYING  71 

relative — his  only  relative,  he  had  told  Enid,  his  parents  being 
dead,  and  he  the  sole  immediate  family  survivor. 

"This  is  the  number  from  which  he  wrote  me  while  he  was 
there.  I  assume  it  is  the  place  of  her  residence.  Your  deep 
interest,  Mr.  Bolston,  has  been  a  great  support  to  me,  and  I  am 
depending  upon  you."  This  was  spoken  in  a  low  tone,  as  she 
leaned  toward  him  from  her  place  on  the  lounge,  where  he, 
too,  was  now  sitting.  Then,  in  a  half  whisper,  he  said : 

"I  leave  for  Boston  night.     Please  say  nothing  about  it." 

By  this  time  Koppinger  was  watching  the  Englishman  out 
of  the  corner  of  his  eye.  Bolston  knew  it,  and  was  now 
convinced  that  the  millionaire  senator,  if  he  chose  to  do  so, 
could  throw  a  great  flood  of  light  on  the  problem  that  was 
turning  in  the  minds  of  everyone  in  the  room.  He  was  not 
disposed  at  that  moment  to  force  Koppinger's  hand,  for  he 
feared  that  such  a  thing  might  cause  an  awkward  revelation. 
Indeed,  so  uncertain  was  he  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the 
bachelor  senator's  knowledge  on  the  subject  he  did  not  dare 
betray  his  own  suspicion.  Koppinger's  attitude  might  be  entire- 
ly proper,  thought  Bolston.  There  was  the  possibility — a  most 
likely  one,  all  things  considered — that  it  was  an  affair  of  the 
heart,  in  which  the  millionaire  was  the  solitary  actor,  for  it 
could  not  be  that  Enid  Grey  was  cognizant  of  it.  Besides, 
there  was  no  reason  for  haste ;  he  could  await  further  develop- 
ments. And  yet,  as  he  struggled  with  the  thoughts  which 
Koppinger's  attitude  had  aroused  in  him — and  in  him  alone,  as 
he  hoped — his  noblest  emotion  pressed  for  action.  Enid's  con- 
fiding words  had  impressed  him  deeply.  This,  with  her  super- 
lative beauty,  stirred  his  warm,  chivalric  nature.  To  merit 
her  confidence  was  a  great  privilege ;  in  the  end,  to  deserve  her 
gratitude  was  to  be  forever  blessed. 

Koppinger  thought  it  very  strange  that  the  old  aunt  had 
not  come  from  Boston  or  made  an  inquiry  of  some  kind,  for 


72  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

surely  she  could  not  be  unaware  of  what  had  happened,  with 
all  the  newspapers  devoting  extra  space  to  the  subject.  He 
asked  Mr.  Grey  how  he  accounted  for  the  fact ;  but  the  editor, 
seeming  to  have  no  opinion  about  it,  submitted  the  question  to 
his  daughter. 

Enid  replied  saying  the  aunt  was  quite  old  and  feeble.  Per- 
haps those  in  whose  care  she  was  had  thought  it  wise  not  to 
shock  her  with  the  news.  Besides,  she  had  written  to  her, 

addressing  the  letter  "For  the  aunt  of  Senator  Twain,  No.- 

Charles  street;"  yet  no  reply  had  been  received. 

"I  will  write  the  mayor  of  Boston  first  thing  tomorrow,"  said 
Koppinger.  "I  know  him  intimately.  Will  you  give  me  the 
number  in  Charles  street,  Miss  Grey?" 

"Pardon  me,"  said  Bolston  in  his  quiet  way,  "but  would  not 
such  a  course  result  in  an  official  search  being  made,  with  the 
usual  publicity  by  the  press?" 

Koppinger  eyed  the  Englishman  closely.     Then  he  replied: 

"Perhaps  you  are  right  about  it." 

But  Enid,  not  to  appear  rude,  gave  him  the  address. 

"Then,  you  should  go  to  Boston  at  once,  senator,"  exclaimed 
Margaret  in  her  direct  and  enthusiastic  way. 

"Oh,  but — why,  Margy,  Senator  Kopppinger  is  so  well 
known  by  everyone,  his  arrival  in  Boston  would  be  the  signal 
for  the  wildest  speculation,"  suggested  Enid,  "and  that  might 
put  the  guilty  ones  on  their  guard." 

"True,  my  dear,"  said  her  father,  who  was  almost  as  guile- 
less as  Margaret,  and  no  more  than  she  had  he  observed  the 
diplomatic  sparring  that  was  going  on  between  the  millionaire 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  Englishman  and  Enid  on  the  other. 

"A  happy  thought,  Enid,"  replied  Margaret. 

But  when  the  Boston  special  pulled  out  of  Washington  late 
that  night  there  were  two  important  passengers  on  board.  One 
was  John  Koppinger  and  the  other  was  Ralph  Bolston. 


SOME     DIPLOMATIC     LYING  73 

Neither  of  them  was  aware  of  the  other's  presence,  for  Kop- 
pinger  preceded  the  Englishman  to  the  station  by  a  few 
minutes,  and  was  in  his  compartment  with  the  door  closed  and 
locked  when  the  other  came.  Nor  did  they  meet  on  the  train 
the  next  day,  nor  that  afternoon  when  the  special  arrived. 
Being  admonished  by  Enid's  "happy  thought,"  the  senator 
remained  in  his  snug  quarters  and  had  his  meals  served  there. 
When  the  train  came  to  a  stop  in  the  Boston  station  he  waited 
fully  five  minutes  before  getting  off.  This  he  easily  arranged 
with  the  porter.  He  had  dodged  the  newspaper  boys  similarly 
on  other  occasions.  Then  he  took  a  closed  taxi  and  drove 

straight  to  No. Charles  street,  coming  to  the  quaint  house, 

which  sat  back  of  and  considerably  above  the  street  level,  just 
after  Bolston  entered  the  door  and  it  was  closed  behind  him. 
The  Englishman  sent  his  taxi  up  the  street  a  little  way  to 
wait  for  him;  Koppinger  did  likewise.  When  the  senator  was 
admitted,  after  using  the  old-fashioned  knocker  vigorously,  he 
saw  Bolston  standing  in  the  hall.  They  glared  at  each  other 
almost  fiercely,  but  neither  of  them  spoke.  For  full  a  half 
minute  it  was  a  duel  between  two  pairs  of  eyes  and  two  de- 
termined natures.  Nor  would  a  blast  from  Gabriel's  trumpet 
have  moved  either  of  them,  nor  caused  them  to  speak,  nor  even 
to  blink  an  angry  eye. 

The  intense  spell  was  broken  by  the  appearance  of  an  elderly 
man  whom  the  equally  elderly  looking  maid  that  opened  the 
door  had  gone  to  fetch  from  the  upper  floor.  He  wore  an 
old  pair  of  carpet  slippers  and  was  in  very  light  and  apparently 
very  cheap  attire.  Pushing  by  Bolston  and  backing  up  against 
the  dingy  wall,  he  looked  at  Koppinger  and  then  at  the  Eng- 
lishman, who  continued  their  fixed  gaze,  neither  of  them  deign- 
ing to  notice  him,  until  he'said,  in  a  feeble  voice : 

"Won't  you  step  into  the  room,  gentlemen?"  Then  they 
bowed  and  passed  through  a  half-open  doorway  which  the  old 


74  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

man  tried  to  make  larger  by  pushing  unsuccessfully  at  the 
paneled  obstruction.  It  would  not  slide,  for  age,  dust  and  rust 
had  afflicted  its  grooves. 

Inside  the  close  and  stuffy  room,  whose  windows  were  tightly 
closed,  as  were  also  the  long  brown  weather-beaten  blinds  out- 
side, the  old  man  motioned  the  two  strangers  to  seats.  By  this 
time  they  both  seemed  to  realize  the  ridiculousness  of  their 
attitude  toward  each  other.  Bolston  broke  the  silence : 

"Proceed,  senator.  I  presume  we  are  here  on  the  same 
errand." 

"Our  spare  room  is  for  rent,  gentlemen,  but  it  is  quite  small," 
said  the  old  man.  "Maybe  two  could  manage  to  get  along  in  it 
somehow." 

"At  what  price?"  asked  Koppinger. 

"We  get  two  fifty  a  week  for  one  person,"  he  replied.  "For 
two  we  would  want  three  fifty,  if  that  is  not  too  much." 

"We  will  take  it  for  a  week,"  said  Koppinger,  and  he  paid 
the  amount  in  advance. 

The  old  man  took  the  money  with  a  grateful  obeisance,  turn- 
ing so  as  to  allow  the  dim  light  that  fell  into  the  room  from  the 
hall  to  strike  the  silver  pieces  in  his  hand,  and  he  clinked  the 
coins  together  as  he  examined  them,  in  true  New  England 
fashion. 

"I  will  have  Matilda  put  the  room  in  order  if  you  will  ex- 
cuse me,"  he  said,  "and  she  will  come  to  show  you  the  bathroom 
and  about  the  water." 

When  he  had  quit  the  room  and  was  gone  up  the  creaky 
stairway  at  the  rear  of  the  lower  hall,  Bolston  spoke: 

"A  queer  place,  senator,  to  find  the  one  we  are  looking  for." 
"Are  you  sure  about  the  number?"  asked  Koppinger.     They 
produced  the  cards  upon  which  Enid  had  written  the  night  be- 
fore.    There  could  be  no  mistake,  at  least  on  their  part ;  the 
number  was  the  same  on  each.     Besides,  they  had  come  separ- 


SOME     DIPLOMATIC     LYING  75 

ately  to  the  place,  neither  knowing  the  other  to  be  in  Boston.  It 
was  plain  enough  to  the  Englishman  that  the  millionaire  was  as 
greatly  puzzled  as  he — apparently  so — and  while  they  waited 
in  silence  he  half  persuaded  himself  that,  after  all,  perhaps  he 
had  misjudged  the  senator. 

A  slight  noise  on  the  stairway  and  the  rustling  of  starched 
skirts  in  the  hall  announced  the  approach  of  "Matilda,"  and 
when  that  person  appeared  in  the  doorway,  her  hand  shading 
her  eyes  as  she  peered  through  the  darkness  of  the  room  at  the 
strangers,  they  rose  and  bowed  politely. 

Men  who  have  been  bred  and  trained  to  the  ceremonious 
ways  of  society  seldom  neglect  its  conventional  requirements. 
It  was  meet,  under  present  circumstances,  that  they  should 
show  due  respect  in  the  presence  of  a  woman,  though  she  might 
turn  out  to  be  a  mere  scullion,  rather  than  that  they  should 
feel  the  necessity  of  chiding  themselves  afterward  for  having 
failed  to  do  so  in  the  presence  of  Cornelius  Twain's  venerable 
aunt.  Nor  had  Scotland  Yard  manners,  in  the  Englishman's 
case,  nor  agrarian  politics  in  Koppinger's  had  the  effect  of 
blunting  their  understanding  of  the  ordinary  civilities  of  life. 

"We  will  not  go  up  just  now,  madam,"  said  Koppinger,  in 
reply  to  her  statement  that  the  room  was  ready.    "We  may  have 
some  business  in  the  city  first.     Has  the  room  been  occupied 
recently?" 
"Yes,  sir." 

"We  are  not  so  very  particular  about  it,"  he  continued, 
"but  by  whom?" 

"He  was  a  fine  man,  sir,  and  called  me  aunt  Matilda,  I  don't 
know  why,  because  I  haven't  any  nevvys,  but  I  didn't  care ;  he 
pays  double." 

"Had  he  been  here  before  the  last  time?"  inquired  Bolston. 
"Yes,  sir;  he's  been  here  every  spring  these  last  four  years, 


76  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

and  stays  a  week,  sometimes  more,  and  then  he  pays  for  two 
weeks  if  it  isn't  quite.  I  hope  you'll  like  the  room." 

"Do  you  know  where  he  comes  from?"  asked  Koppinger. 

"Down  Washington  way  somewhere.  He's  something  big  in 
the  Government,  I  guess,  as  some  of  his  letters  don't  have 
stamps.  They  say  "free"  on  the  outside." 

"And  does  he  know  anyone  in  the  house  here  besides  you?" 

"Just  my  brother,  David  Hollister,  that's  all.  We've  lived 
here  fifty  years  comin'  fifty-one  in  December — no  one  else  but 
them  that  rents  the  room  and  Sam  and  Julie,  the  help." 

"You  will  pardon  us  for  asking  about  your  roomers,  madam. 
Please  show  us  up,"  said  Koppinger. 

"I'll  call  Sam,  that's  the  colored  man,  to  take  your  things." 
Then  she  hurried  away. 

"Sam,"  said  Bolston,  after  handing  him  a  silver  dollar  when 
they  were  in  the  room,  "I  hope  we  shan't  give  you  any  more 
trouble  than  the  last  roomer  did." 

"Deed  it  ain't  no  trouble  no  how,  ef  you  please.  He  was 
spoty  wid  'is  money,  too." 

"Sporty?"  repeated  Koppinger. 

"Yes,  sah,  just  like  you  all,  an'  he  talk  fine  about  'is  sweet- 
hea't  an'  'is  mammy  an'  daddy  an'  Miss  'Tilda,  an'  lots  ob 
fokes  wat  he  know'd.  I  reckon  dat  man  was  mighty  good  an' 
amount  to  sumpin  in  dis  wicked  worl',  case  he  cry  and  take  on 
'korridgble  like  wen  he  git  'is  sweethea't  lettah  dat  cum  eb'ry 
mo'nin' ;  an'  he  stay  up  all  night  and  walk  de  flo'  like  he  wait 
fo'  de  nex'  one." 

The  professional  novelist  would  find  in  the  foregoing  quite 
enough  material  with  which  to  complete  his  story,  for  there 
was  much  in  it  to  suggest  darkness  and  mystery.  Yet,  I  must 
see  only  through  the  eyes  of  John  Koppinger  and  Ralph  Bol- 
ston, and  relate  what  they  thought  about  it. 

So,  when  Sam  was  gone  the  "new  roomers"  took  council; 


SOME     DIPLOMATIC     LYING  77 

they  were  greatly  nonplused.  There  could  be  no  doubt  — upon 
this  they  were  agreed — that  the  three  occupants  of  the  Charles 
street  house  had  told  the  truth.  Twain  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  coming  here,  but  not  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  his  aunt.  Be- 
yond these  incontrovertible  facts  his  two  anxious  friends  would 
not  go  at  present. 

But  in  what  terms  should  this  information  be  conveyed  to 
Enid  Grey?  She  would  be  eager  to  learn  from  Bolston's  own 
lips  the  result  of  his  investigations.  The  truth  must  be  told. 
Thus  Bolston  mused. 

"We  will  go  over  the  matter  on  the  train,"  said  Koppinger, 
as  if  he  were  reading  the  Englishman's  very  thoughts.  Then 
he  looked  at  his  watch.  "Five  hours  yet.  Dismiss  the  taxis, 
Mr.  Bolston;  you  may  go  upon  the  streets  without  the  hazard 
of  being  recognized.  We  can  remain  here  until  train  time  and 
then  walk  to  the  station  a  roundabout  way.  I  know  the  city. 
Get  a  few  sandwiches  while  you  are  out."  Koppinger  was  a 
methodical  man,  and  abhorred  hunger. 

Soon  after  Bolston  left  the  house,  "Matilda"  rapped  at  the 
door.  She  came  with  the  letter  that  Enid  had  written.  It 
was  unopened.  "I  didn't  want  to  break  it,  sir,  for  I  am  not 
his  real  aunt,  and  there  is  a  law  for  them  that  opens  other's 
letters." 

"Was  the  gentleman  that  had  this  room  in  good  health, 
madam?"  Koppinger  asked. 

"Fine  health,  sir,  and  in  good  spirits.  He  laughed  beauti- 
ful like,  and  talked  with  us.  At  night  he  walked  the  floor  a 
good  deal  and  seemed  to  be  making  speeches  all  to  himself.  I 
reckon  he  was  getting  ready  for  what  he  had  to  do  for  the 
Government,  maybe." 

En  route  next  day  Koppinger  insisted  that  Bolston  should 
see  Miss  Grey  as  soon  as  they  arrived. 

"She  knows  that  you  went  to  Boston  and  will  expect  an 


78  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT. 

immediate  report,"  said  he,  without  looking  up  from  the  maga- 
zine whose  pages  he  was  aimlessly  turning. 

The  Englishman  made  no  reply  just  then,  for  he  did  not 
quite  like  Koppinger's  positive  way  of  saying  that  Miss  Grey 
knew  in  advance  of  his  intention.  Besides,  how  did  Koppinger 
know?  He  could  not  have  heard  what  he  said  to  her  in  the 
lowest  possible  tone,  at  the  moment  that  Margaret  Holt  was 
indulging  in  an  outburst  of  laughter  and  the  others  were  talk- 
ing. Had  the  millionaire  guessed  the  truth?  If  so,  then 
there  must  be  a  hidden  meaning  in  his  cool  assumption  of  a 
secret  understanding  between  them,  which,  indeed  there  was, 
but  it  was  no  business  of  John  Koppinger's.  Besides,  Kop- 
pinger had  not  explained  to  Bolston  nor  anyone  else  why  it 
was  that  he  took  upon  himself  the  task  of  finding  Senator 
Twain's  aunt,  leaving  Washington  hastily  and  secretly  for  that 
purpose. 

"Did  Miss  Grey  tell  you,  senator?"  asked  the  Englishman. 
He  knew,  of  course,  that  she  did  not  tell  him,  as  he  had  re- 
quested her  to  say  nothing  about  it ;  yet  there  seemed  no  better 
way  of  parrying  the  millionaire's  gentle  thrust  than  by  putting 
him  on  the  defensive. 

"Oh,  not  at  all,"  he  replied  quickly.  "I  supposed  that  was 
generally  understood  when  you  asked  for  the  Charles  street 
number." 

"Oh,  of  course,"  replied  the  Englishman.  "I  had  forgotten 
about  that." 

And  both  were  lying  beautifully,  the  one  to  the  other,  even 
as  distinguished  diplomatists  might  have  done  under  stress  of 
like  circumstances. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BANNISTER  AT    BLUE   RIDGE 

When  they  arrived  in  Washington  each  took  his  separate 
way,  after  Bolston  had  extracted  a  promise  from  Koppinger 
that  the  Boston  episode  should  not  be  mentioned  to  anyone 
outside  the  Grey  family.  The  senator  went  to  the  Capitol, 
direct  from  the  great  Union  station  which  the  Government  do- 
nated to  the  pauper  railroads  running  to  the  Capital  city.  He 
walked  leisurely  across  the  park,  and  entering  the  Senate 
chamber  took  his  seat  among  his  colleagues  with  an  air  of  un- 
concern and  repose  that  completely  masked  the  unusual  emo- 
tions stirring  in  his  breast.  Several  senators  came  to  inquire  if 
there  were  any  news  concerning  Twain.  The  close  personal 
relations  so  long  existing  between  them  gave  the  millionaire 
statesman  especial  prominence  as  the  medium  through  whom  in- 
formation on  the  subject  was  expected,  and  the  secret  service 
officials  who  were  working  on  the  case  came  to  him  regularly 
for  advice.  Dick  Bostwick,  the  famous  head  of  detectives, 
met  with  him  for  consultation  almost  every  day  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

"His  whereabouts  are  still  unknown,"  was  Koppinger's 
guarded  reply  to  his  colleagues.  Until  now  his  stereotyped 
answer  had  been:  "No  new  developments." 

Next  day,  after  the  Senate  convened,  Baxter  came  along 
and  standing  in  the  lower  aisle  leaned  with  his  elbows  on 


80  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  outer  ledge  of  Koppinger's  desk,  which  the  guides  will 
tell  you  was  the  one  used  by  Daniel  Webster  long  ago;  and 
you  will  look  at  it  with  patriotic  emotion  expanding  your 
American  breast,  remembering  the  inscription  you  have  read, 
perhaps,  on  the  granite  statue  in  Central  Park,  New  York: 
"Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable." 
Then  you  will  visit  the  great,  the  beautiful  Congressional 
Library  building  and  ask  for  Webster's  famous  speech  in  reply 
to  Hayne,  for  in  the  eager  routine  of  your  home  life  you 
have  not  thought  to  read  it,  though  it  may  be  found  in  your 
own  bookcase. 

Well,  this  brought  Baxter's  and  Koppinger's  heads  close 
together,  physically  at  least. 

"Any  developments?"  asked  Baxter. 

"Can  you  take  luncheon  with  me  in  my  committee-room  at 
one?"  responded  Koppinger,  turning  and  looking  at  the  big 
clock  over  the  main  entrance  to  the  chamber.  The  ominous 
black  hands  of  the  time-piece  indicated  twelve  forty.  Nor  had 
these  been  disturbed  since  the  closing  hours  of  the  last  session, 
when,  as  frequently  happens,  they  were  turned  back  by  the  use 
of  a  long  staff  in  the  hands  of  the  head  doorkeeper,  so  that 
the  Senate  might  delude  itself  with  the  belief  that  the  final 
"legislative  day"  had  not  expired.  This  is  only  one  of  the 
methods  of  killing  time  in  the  Senate.  The  old  clock  was 
"right"  today,  and  Baxter  nodded  his  head. 

When  two  senators  take  luncheon  together  in  a  committee- 
room  it  amounts  to  a  miniature  executive  session,  and  what  is 
said  on  such  occasions  is  not  for  the  wide  world  to  know,  any 
more  than  are  the  proceedings  of  a  real  secret  session  of  the 
Senate;  although,  even  unto  the  present  day,  the  mysterious 
"leak"  in  the  big  chamber  has  not  been  located,  and  never  will 
be;  for  which  the  Press  Gallery  will  continue  to  raise  its  eyes 
to  Heaven  with  feelings  of  gratitude  deeper  and  more  fervent 


BANNISTER     AT     BLUE     RIDGE  81 

even  than  those  aroused  over  the  annual  turkey  and  cranberry 
sauce  in  November.  To  repeat :  committee-room  luncheons 
"for  two"  are  of  a  very  confidential  nature,  and  no  senator 
participating  in  one  of  them  will  ever  tell  what  was  said,  from 
bluepoints  to  demi  tasse. 

No  such  inviolableness  is  maintained  even  at  the  White 
House,  where  conferences,  involving  the  fate  of  nations  some- 
times, are  not  spoken  of  forever  after  by  the  parties  to  them, 
the  newspaper  boys  being  obliged  to  report  them  in  the  third 
person,  using  the  "it  is  said,"  "it  is  reported,"  and  "one  close 
to  the  President  is  credited  with  saying,"  etc.  Hence  the  im- 
portance attached  to  the  choosing  of  a  secretary  to  the  Presi- 
dent who  has  a  fine,  artistic  as  well  as  "safe  and  sane"  literary 
style. 

A  speedy  taxicab  carried  the  Englishman  from  the  station 
to  Grey's  private  room  in  "The  Record"  building.  The  editor, 
having  examined  a  time  table,  was  expecting  him,  for  he  was 
sure  it  would  be  unnecessary  for  Bolston  to  spend  many  hours 
in  Boston  in  finding  Senator  Twain's  aunt.  Imagine  his  sur- 
prise, then,  on  learning  that  no  such  person  existed,  so  far  as 
had  been  ascertained. 

"Enid  must  not  be  told,"  said  the  editor,  very  much  dis- 
turbed by  Bolston's  report.  "It  would  undo  her  completely." 

"You  know  best  as  to  that,  my  friend,"  replied  the  English- 
man, "yet  she  is  the  one  most  deeply  interested  in  knowing  the 
truth." 

"It  would  shake  her  faith  in  him,  I  fear,  and  that  would 
break  her  heart." 

"But  she  knows  that  I  went  to  Boston  and  will  expect  me  to 
tell  her.  Not  to  do  so  would  excite  suspicion — a  lack  of  con- 
fidence in  me  even,  and  in  you  also,  I  fear,  for  your  daughter 
understands,  of  course,  that  there  are  no  secrets  between  you 
and  me." 


82  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

The  editor  paced  the  floor  of  his  sanctum  for  a  few  moments 
in  silence.  Then  he  touched  a  bell-button. 

"Ask  Mr.  Smith,"  said  he,  when  the  messenger  came,  "to 
give  you  the  'copy'  I  handed  him  awhile  ago — the  article 
marked  'must'  in  blue — and  fetch  it  to  me.  There,"  he  ex- 
claimed when  the  "copy"  was  brought  to  him  and  he  had  put 
it  in  a  little  drawer  in  his  desk,  "you  may  sleep  for  awhile,  but 
not  too  soundly,  for  I'll  have  to  use  you  before  long." 

Then,  turning  to  Bolston,  he  said:  "In  that  article  I  have 
charged  the  mongering  System  with  criminal  responsibility 
for  the  abduction  of  Cornelius  Twain.  I  have  yielded  to  your 
advice,  so  often  given,  not  to  make  such  an  accusation,  but 
damn  their  pachydermatous  hides,  Bolston,  I  believe  I  am 
right  about  it.  As  soon  as  you  got  away  I  couldn't  desist 
longer,  so  I  just  lifted  up  a  few  square  inches  of  their  thick 
cuticle  and  put  some  salt  and  vinegar  under  it.  The  article 
would  have  been  in  tomorrow's  'Record.'  Under  the  circum- 
stances it  will  keep." 

In  the  absence  of  the  Englishman  the  man  Grey  had  over- 
come the  circumspect  editor  of  that  name  and  was  upon  the 
point  of  launching  "The  Record"  in  the  scarlatiniform  sea  of 
journalism,  where,  thereafter,  it  must  perforce  build  its  circu- 
lation on  the  slimsy  foundation  of  sensationalism,  thus  inviting 
the  approval  of  a  clientele  of  thoughtless  people. 

"I'm  glad  the  Boston  express  didn't  run  off  the  track,  Mr. 
Grey,"  remarked  Bolston  with  a  kindly  smile. 

"So  am  I,  on  your  account." 

"But,  about  the  aunt?"  inquired  the  Englishman. 

"We  are  putting  our  summer  home  at  Blue  Ridge  in  order. 
It  will  be  ready  in  a  few  days.  Page  Bannister  is  coming  to 
visit  us.  You  must  come  also.  By  then  we  can  decide  what 
is  best  to  do.  Enid  is  now  at  Holtleigh  with  Margaret.  Poor 
child!  My  heart  bleeds  for  her."  And  he  went  over  to  the 


BANNISTER     AT     BLUE     RIDGE  83 

open  window  and  looked  dejectedly  out  upon  the  hurrying 
throng  on  the  heated  sidewalks. 

Ashhurst,  the  summer  home  of  the  Greys,  reposed  snugly 
in  the  midst  of  a  great  forest  of  chestnut  trees  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains,  overlooking  the  panoramic 
and  historic  Cumberland  Valley. 

The  house  had  been  reconstructed  and  modernized  out  of  a 
quaint  two-story  frame  bunding  with  a  profusion  of  gables 
and  dormer  windows,  such  as  belonged  to  the  architecture  of 
the  early  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  During  the  Civil 
War  it  was  the  residence  of  a  prominent  Maryland  family, 
consisting,  after  the  war,  of  the  mother  and  four  daughters.  The 
men  that  belonged  there  had  been  in  the  service  on  both  sides  of 
the  fratricidal  contest — and  they  never  returned.  Indeed,  the 
house  was  divided  against  itself.  One  son,  the  youngest,  was 
in  the  Union  army;  the  father  and  two  of  the  elder  sons  were 
fighting  with  the  Confederates.  One  of  these  had  remained  at 
home  for  a  time  with  his  mother  and  four  sisters  to  direct  the 
negroes  in  the  work  of  cultivating  two  or  three  hundred  acres 
of  fertile  lands  in  the  valley  below.  While  Lee's  army  was 
passing  northward  through  the  valley  toward  Gettysburg  the 
young  man,  who  thus  far  had  remained  loyal  to  the  Union 
cause,  took  the  best  horse  in  the  stables,  rode  to  a  neighboring 
school  house  where  the  Stars  and  Stripes  waved  in  the  breeze 
from  the  top  of  a  fine  beechwood  pole  erected  by  the  patriotic 
citizens  for  the  previous  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  and,  cut- 
ting the  halyard  with  his  bowie  knife,  he  severed  the  flag  in 
twain,  wrapped  one  half  of  it  about  his  body  and  made  a  dash 
for  the  marching  columns  of  the  Confederacy,  yelling  as  he 
went:  "I'm  a  rebel  from  hell  and  am  after  the  Yankees  with 
fire !"  His  bones  lie  buried  somewhere  near  Little  Round 
Top,  overlooked  by  the  granite  monuments  of  the  Reunited 
States.  Soon  after  the  wild  flight  of  this  Hotspur  into  tha 


84  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

jaws  of  death,  a  Union  officer  came  to  the  gabled  house,  from 
which  he  proceeded  to  observe  the  movements  of  the  Confeder- 
ate forces,  reporting  to  General  Hooker  and  the  latter  to  Gen- 
ral  Halleck.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  officer  returned,  for 
he  had  fallen  in  love  with  the  belle  of  the  Maryland  hills,  one 
of  the  four  sisters,  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  expedition.  But 
that  is  another  story. 

Ashhurst  was  now  a  spacious,  comfortable  abode,  with  broad 
porches  on  three  of  its  sides,  a  small  garage  and  a  luxuriant 
flower  garden  at  the  rear.  Here  the  hummingbird  came  to 
suck  the  nectar  of  the  blossoms  and  bathe  in  the  sun's  rays  re- 
flected from  the  mingled  dark  and  light  of  his  tremulous  ves- 
ture. Cock  robin,  with  vest  of  red  and  cutaway  coat,  strutted 
proudly  on  the  well  clipped  lawn  at  the  house  front,  turning 
his  head  ingeniously  to  catch  the  gnawing  sound  of  the  grubs 
in  the  grassroots ;  and  below,  in  the  thickets  and  brush-clumps 
of  the  deep  ravines,  the  hermit  thrush  warbled  his  inimitable 
song.  The  place  was  in  the  midst  of  ideal  surroundings. 

A  narrow  roadway  led  up  a  steep  hill,  all  astir  with  ferns,  to 
another  and  broader  highway  that  wound  through  the  forest, 
skirting  now  and  again  the  crumbling  edges  of  rocky  declivi- 
ties which  made  one's  head  swim. 

A  three-mile  run  over  this  picturesque  highway  brought  the 
traveler  to  Holtleigh,  more  magnificent,  perhaps,  than  anything 
hitherto  attempted  in  the  way  of  summer  residences.  Nor 
shall  I  undertake  to  describe  it ;  words  refuse  to  tell  of  its  ex- 
ceeding splendor.  I  must  content  myself,  therefore,  with  say- 
ing— and  Holt  minor  told  me  himself — that  it  cost  two  and  a 
half  million  of  dollars.  In  these  days  of  haste  and  waste, 
and  according  to  our  way  of  estimating  the  artistic,  that  is 
description  a  plenty!  I  should  say,  however,  that  Holtleigh 
was  just  over  the  line  in  Pennsylvania — the  Mason  and  Dixon 


BANNISTER    AT     BLUE     RIDGE  85 

line — as  well  as  that  which  separates  Maryland  from  the  Key- 
stone commonwealth. 

It  was  here,  then,  at  this  unequalled  palace,  that  Enid  Grey 
was  being  entertained  by  Margaret  Holt  until  such  time  as 
Ashhurst  should  be  in  readiness. 

Across  a  deep  gorge  to  the  north,  supported  by  a  wide  area 
of  croquet  and  tennis  grounds,  there  was  an  elaborate  hotel, 
well  patronized  by  summer  visitors,  among  whom  Captain 
Nicholas  Mikleskoff,  who,  on  account  of  his  military  bearing, 
his  handsome,  rugged  face,  no  less  than  by  reason  of  his  dis- 
tinguished lineage  and  his  matrimonial  aspirations,  was  quite 
the  most  leonine  personage  in  the  veranda  parades — that  is, 
when  he  suffered  himself  to  mingle  with  the  other  guests. 
This  happened  all  too  seldom  to  be  entirely  satisfying  to  the 
minds  of  the  marriageable  maidens  who  bedecked  themselves 
appropriately  for  such  occasions  and  practiced  their  little  co- 
quetries with  amazing  results  upon  susceptible  elderly  gentle- 
men, but  without  the  desired  effect  upon  the  titled  Russian. 
Ambitious  matrons  who  had  daughters  to  exchange  for  distinc- 
tion understood  it,  and  looked  reprovingly  upon  the  frequent 
visits  of  the  junior  Holt  and  two  or  three  boon  companions 
with  whom  the  Captain  spent  long  hours  in  his  quarters  on  the 
top  floor,  where  the  clicking  of  chips  and  the  wild  outbursts  of 
laughter  could  be  heard  through  the  thin  partitions  of  the  sum- 
mer resort  too  frequently  far  into  the  night.  And  it  some- 
times happened  that  Margaret  Holt  herself  came  in  the  family 
car  with  her  brother  or  her  mother,  or  both,  to  deposit  the 
Captain  at  his  hotel  after  he  had  made  an  evening  call  at 
superb  Holtleigh. 

Still,  the  privilege  of  bestowing  his  name  and  the  title  of 
"countess"  upon  any  young  lady  whose  parents  could  be  per- 
suaded to  exchange  a  few  millions  for  an  alliance  with  nobility 
could  not  be  seriously  denied  to  Nicholas  Mikelskoff.  It  is 


86  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

one  of  the  hardships  that  belong  to  hereditary  distinction  to  be 
at  least  suspected  of  designs  of  this  nature.  Yet,  so  long  as 
young  Holt  insisted  upon  learning  the  numerous  foreign  games 
of  chance  with  which  the  Captain  was  familiar,  and  so  long 
as  the  Captain  himself  wished  to  take  lessons  in  our  national 
game  of  poker,  he  was  not  inclined  to  be  disturbed  by  any 
gossip  imputing  to  him  an  ulterior  motive  in  his  attentions  to 
the  multi-millionaire's  daughter. 

In  the  end,  his  efforts  to  teach  and  to  learn  the  games  ap- 
pear to  have  been  rewarded  by  several  thousand  dollars,  ena- 
bling him  to  reestablish  agreeable  relations  with  his  tailor  and 
the  haberdasher  who  were  contributors  to  his  necessities  in 
darker  days. 

So,  in  due  time,  Page  Bannister  came  to  Ashhurst.     Ralph 
Bolston  arrived  two  days  later.     He  was  delayed  on  account 
of  a  pressing  engagement  with  Dick  Bostwick,  who  was  just  put 
in  charge  of  the  Government  machinery  now  in  motion  for  the 
recovery  of  the  stolen  senator.     The  great  detective,  first  com- 
ing to  me  with  the  thread  of  a  faint  clew,  I  had  sent  to  the 
Englishman,  whom  I  knew  to  be  young,  alert,  active  and  force- 
ful ;   for  what  could  be  accomplished  by  me,  who  was  con- 
siderably past  the  meridian  of  life,  with  the  lethargy  of  an 
oriental  sojourn  in  my  sluggish  blood,  toward  solving  a  prob- 
lem that  required  quickness  of  thought  and  sprightliness  of 
movement?     Moreover,  I  was  aware  of  the  sorrowful  fact  that 
in  Washington  life  there  are  none  who  are  quite  as  helpless, 
even  useless,  none  so  painfully  impotent  in  achieving  results 
as  those  who,  having  once  held  influential  station  under  the 
Government,  find  themselves,  as  private  citizens,  facing  extra- 
ordinary duties;  for  it  is  here  that  the  "political  pull"  is  all 
powerful,  and  without  it  one  is  simply  in  the  way.     I  had  seen 
many  pathetic  instances  in  which  former  members  of  Congress 
had  located  at  the  Capital  to  practice  their  profession  or  to 


BANNISTER     AT     BLUE     RIDGE  87 

engage  in  other  business  in  order  to  eke  out  a  livelihood,  in  the 
belief,  no  doubt,  that  their  prospects  would  be  enhanced  in 
that,  not  so  long  ago,  they  were  more  or  less  distinguished 
officially;  and  I  had  seen  almost  as  many  complete  failures. 
Wherefore  I  say  unto  my  fellow  "exes :"  Be  content  with  your 
lot  as  squeezed  lemons,  for  statuary  hall  is  already  over- 
crowded with  marble  heroes. 

Again,  I  could  not  imagine  a  situation  that  would  admit  of 
failure  in  the  heroic  purpose  so  apparent  in  Ralph  Bolston's 
determined  eyes  when  he  came  to  consult  me  a  few  days  back 
in  regard  to  certain  legal  phases  of  the  case  and  his  own  status 
as  a  rescuer  of  abducted  statesmen.  Under  the  influence  of 
these  reflections  I  was  easily  reconciled  to  the  part,  the  only 
part  for  me  in  this  strange  national  tragedy ;  I  could  merely 
advise  and  suggest,  after  asking  many  questions,  thus  demon- 
strating the  force  of  the  maxim,  "old  men  for  counsel,  young 
men  for  war." 

Moreover,  I  was  at  the  great  disadvantage  of  having  been 
away  several  years,  and  in  that  time  a  complete  revolution  in 
business  methods  and  in  public  affairs  had  taken  place.  All 
the  great  interests  and  industries,  except  agriculture,  were  now 
under  one  formidable  control,  and  the  Master  Monger  of  them 
all  had  raised  himself,  by  sheer  force  of  relentless  and  im- 
perious energy,  to  a  position  of  lordly  domination  over  millions 
of  his  fellow  creatures,  the  institution  of  government  itself 
falling  helplessly  under  his  heartless  sway. 

"Ah,  yes,"  said  Grey  to  me  one  day,  "it  is  here,  in  the  invit- 
ing atmosphere  of  the  nation's  Capital,  no  matter  what  party 
is  in  power,  that  the  'captains  of  industry'  collaborate  in  the 
interest  of  statutory  privilege.  It  is  here,  too,  that  the  great 
Colossus  of  Finance  and  Trade — one  foot  on  the  lid  of  admin- 
istration and  the  other  on  the  stock  market,  his  sombre  right 
hand  displayed  as  if  gripping  the  coddled  industries  of  the 


88  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

east,  his  face  turned  in  confident  expectancy  toward  the 
bountiful  west  and  the  fruitful  south,  the  better,  perhaps,  to 
observe  his  network  of  railroads  gathering  tribute  for  his  vast 
coffers,  already  overflowing  with  spoil — it  is  here  that  the  very 
ground  quakes,  until  even  the  gold  hoardings  in  the  National 
Treasury  are  commoved,  when  this  modern  Croesus  comes  to 
town.  And  when  he  has  talked  plainly  to  the  statesmen,  lest 
they  forget;  when  the  Treasury  is  more  deeply  indebted  to 
him  than  ever;  when  the  kow-towing  of  sycophants  and  sup- 
pliants has  ceased,  and  the  kind  of  "prosperity"  that  he  last 
prescribed,  be  it  conservation  or  reciprocity,  is  supposed  to  have 
taken  root,  he  will  cross  the  wide  ocean,  and,  mayhap,  he  will 
venture  to  spend  some  of  the  hard-earned  dollars  extracted 
from  the  sweat  of  a  grateful  people's  brow  in  the  purchase  of 
works  of  the  old  masters ;  after  which  he  will  again  receive  the 
plaudits  of  the  multitude,  but  now,  forsooth,  in  recognition  of 
his  artistic  taste!  Thus  it  is  that  some  of  the  most  powerful 
of  our  'self-made  men'  build  their  own  monuments." 

Have  not  I  said  elsewhere  that  Editor  Grey  was  a  man  of 
rare  imagination? 

"I  am  in  need  of  help,"  said  Bostwick,  when  he  came  to  me 
and  I  sent  him  to  confer  with  the  more  active  Englishman. 
"I  fear  the  worst,  for  I  have  just  succeeded  in  unearthing  an 
important  chain  of  ugly  facts.  For  the  present  the  matter 
must  be  treated  in  the  strictest  confidence.  I  know  tliat  you 
can  be  trusted.  At  the  outset  let  me  say  that  no  senator  is 
responsible  for  the  unfortunate  affair,  not  even  Packenham, 
who  is  being  terrifically  censured,  as  you  know.  He  is  pros- 
trated with  remorse  for  the  part  he  is  charged  with  having 
taken  in  it.  I  have  talked  with  him.  Still,  he  knows  nothing 
of  what  I  am  about  to  relate." 

This  exculpation  of  Packenham  and  of  the  body  of  which  I 
had  been  a  member  pleased  me ;  for  it  was  the  fashion  to  make 


BANNISTER     AT     BLUE     RIDGE  89 

the  gravest  accusations  against  the  American  Senate,  as  it  had 
been  in  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  and  of  Cneius  Pompey  to  lay 
all  the  ills  of  the  times  at  the  door  of  the  Roman  Senate. 

Yet,  why  blame  the  people  for  their  lack  of  confidence  in 
public  men?  Has  not  even  our  boasted  system  of  "trial  by 
jury"  been  practically  superseded  by  one  of  accusation  in  the 
public  prints? — by  demagogic  indictments  drawn  in  heated 
imaginations  and  delivered  from  political  rostrums? — from 
Rome  to  Chicago!  "Yer  guilty  anny  way,"  as  the  Irish 
justice  remarked;  "now  procade  to  put  in  yer  ividince,  if  ye 
have  anny."  Such  is  the  new  mode  of  judicature;  such  the 
onslaught  upon  the  American  Senate,  because  it  refuses  to  be 
stampeded  by  clamor. 

So,  as  I  have  said,  Page  Bannister  and  Ralph  Bolston  came 
to  Ashhurst  as  the  guests  of  the  Greys.  If  Bostwick's  dis- 
covery in  regard  to  Andy  Akers  was  entitled  to  credence  it  did 
not  remove  the  conviction  in  the  Englishman's  analytical  mind 
that  John  Koppinger  knew  more  about  the  mystery  than  he 
was  willing  to  tell;  either  that,  or  his  interest  was  of  another 
kind.  But  the  Englishman  kept  his  own  counsel  and  assisted 
the  Greys  in  entertaining  the  distinguished  Altrocratic  leader. 

One  evening,  after  a  Lucullan  feast  at  the  Holts  in  honor 
of  Bannister,  Captain  Mikleskoff  ventured  the  opinion  that,  as 
a  preliminary  to  unearthing  the  real  culprits  in  the  abduction, 
someone  should  be  either  hanged  or  guillotined. 

"This,"  said  he,  "would  flush  the  covey,  as  you  say  here,  and 
send  the  rascals  to  cover  in  mortal  fear.  After  that  the  au- 
thorities would  have  no  trouble  in  putting  their  hands  upon 
them." 

Grey  was  inclined  to  agree  with  the  Russian,  but  Bannister 
inquired  if  there  was  not  the  danger  of  sacrificing  the  life  of 
an  innocent  person.  This  did  not  appeal  to  the  Captain's  un- 
American  conscience,  and  he  replied : 


90  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"The  world  is  filled  with  worthless  people,  anyway." 

"Shocking!"  exclaimed  Margaret.  "Is  that  the  custom  in 
your  country,  Captain?" 

"I  must  admit,"  he  answered,  as  if  to  soften  his  previous 
remark,  "that  we  go  in  for  results,  Miss  Holt,  thus  maintaining 
the  integrity  of  the  Government." 

"I  fear  the  compensation  is  not  enough,"  was  her  reply,  as 
she  looked  appealingly,  and,  as  Enid  thought,  admiringly  at 
Page  Bannister. 

Bolston  was  wondering  if,  in  pursuance  of  his  policy  of 
propitiation,  the  Captain  would  select  his  victim  from  the  Far- 
num  tribe,  but  he  said  nothing. 

Bannister's  short  stay  in  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains  was  en- 
livened by  much  sightseeing.  He  was  greatly  interested  in  the 
people,  and  Grey  managed  to  bring  him  in  contact  with  several 
of  the  homespun  residents  of  the  Cumberland  Valley.  On  one 
occasion,  as  they  were  descending  toward  Waynesboro  in  the 
seven-passenger  car,  Mrs.  Grey  asked  the  driver  to  stop. 

"Here  comes  good  old  Mr.  Smyser,"  said  she.  "He  is  on 
his  way  to  Ashhurst  with  a  basket  of  fresh  berries.  We  will 
take  them  in  and  save  him  climbing  the  hill.  Good  morning, 
Mr.  Smyser." 

"Howdy  all?"  inquired  the  sinewy,  swarthy  old  resident. 
Smyser  owned  a  few  acres  of  land  where  his  forebears  had 
lived  and  died.  He  maintained  a  little  orchard  in  which  a 
variety  of  fruits  were  grown,  and  a  duck  pasture  where  he 
fattened  the  web-footed  fowl  on  celery  and  sold  them  to  the 
wealthy  resorters  of  the  Blue  Ridges.  He  was  also  the  local 
philosopher  of  the  Waynesboro  region  and  always  had  the 
right  of  way  in  any  political  arguments  that  arose  in  the  com- 
munity. "It's  right  smart  warm  today,"  said  he,  wiping  the 
beads  of  water  from  his  bronzed  forehead  with  a  red  bandanna. 

"Shake  hands  with  the  next  President,  Mr.  Smyser.     This 


BANNISTER     AT     BLUE     RIDGE  91 

is  Mr.  Bannister,"  said  the  editor,  "and  you've  met  Mrs.  Grey, 
Miss  Margaret  Holt  and  my  daughter  Enid,  of  course,  and  this 
red-headed  man  here  is  Mr.  Bolston,  from  London,  but  he's 
fast  coming  to  be  Americanized." 

"I've  hearn  tell  about  him,  sir,  as  how  he's  just  cuttin'  out 
that  Roosian  over  to  Andy  Holt's.  I  hope  he  does.  I  ain't 
got  no  use  fer  them  furriners  that  come  here  to  take  our  purty 
gals  away." 

And  the  ladies  fairly  screamed  with  laughter,  for  here  was 
a  piece  of  local  gossip  that  not  even  the  Greys  nor  the  Holts 
had  heard  before  now.  By  this  time  the  Englishman's  face 
was  redder  than  his  beard,  and  that  was  redder  than  his  hair. 
Margaret,  too,  was  blushing  appropriately,  but  not  to  the  ex- 
tent of  confirming  the  report,  as  Page  Bannister,  who  was  a 
close  observer,  was  quite  sure,  and  he  was  eyeing  her  intently. 
"Besides,"  he  mused,  "she  is  a  pronounced  blonde  and  has 
such  Heaven-blue  eyes,  out  of  the  same  piece  of  sky,  perhaps, 
that  Bolston's  were  plucked;  and  blonde,  blue-orbed  persons 
are  said  to  mate  with  those  having  dark  hair  and  eyes."  Ban- 
nister's own  were  brown. 

"I'm  mighty  glad  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Bannister,"  continued 
Smyser,  "but  I  might  as  well  tell  you,  sir,  that  I  won't  vote  fer 
you  nohow.  Beain't  you  the  one  that's  runnin'  for  the  new 
party  what's  got  that  elevatin'  name?"  The  Smysers  were  orig- 
inally from  Vermont,  but  came  to  Maryland  many  years  ago. 
This  one  was  proficient  in  the  vernacular  of  both  these  states, 
and  knew  the  Pennsylvania  dialect  also. 

Bannister  nodded  his  head  and  answered  smilingly:  "I 
admire  your  frankness,  Mr.  Smyser;  hold  to  your  political  be- 
liefs, whatever  they  may  be." 

"Yes,  sir;  I'm  right  set.  There  ain't  nothing  wrong  with 
the  country,  sir;  it's  the  politicians  that's  to  blame.  All  they 
want  is  to  get  in,  and  there  ain't  much  difference  in  men.  Mr. 


92  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Grey's  paper  has  got  it  about  right,  sir.  It  says  things  should 
be  allowed  to  simmer  along  without  bilin'  over." 

Bolston,  whose  face  was  now  less  red  than  his  hair,  looked 
at  Grey  and  smiled.  He  was  thinking  of  the  peppery  article 
that  was  in  the  cold  storage  drawer  of  the  editor's  desk. 

"I  agree  with  Mr.  Grey's  paper  in  the  main,  Mr.  Smyser," 
said  Bannister,  "but  this  is  a  growing  country  and  politics 
must  be  made  to  keep  up  with  it." 

"I  want  to  know !"  exclaimed  Smyser.  "Well,  sir,  the  coun- 
try'll  have  to  go  some  to  keep  out  of  their  way,  believe  me. 
Senator  Koppinger  made  a  speech  up  here  last  fall  and  said  so." 

Bolston  looked  at  Enid,  but  her  gaze  was  fixed  listlessly 
on  some  far  away  object,  and  she  seemed  not  to  hear. 

"But,  sir,  you've  got  a  good-looking  noodle  on  your  should- 
ers," Smyser  went  on,  "and  there's  knobs  on  it.  I  reckon  if 
them  trusts  struck  it  they'd  slide  off  and  git  themselves  hurt. 
Maybe  you're  all  right,  Mr.  Bannister.  I'll  read  what  Grey 
says  and  govern  myself  accordingly." 


CHAPTER  IX 

UNFOUNDED   SUSPICION 

Now,  if  all  the  characters  in  this  chronicle,  particularly  those 
we  have  met  in  the  luxurious  seven-passenger  car  as  it  speeded 
among  the  Blue  Ridges  on  that  fine  June  morning,  when  old 
man  Smyser  disposed  of  his  berries,  had  been  of  one  mind  in 
regard  to  the  momentous  problem  around  which  this  tale  is 
being  woven,  they  would  be  of  no  use  whatever  to  the  novelist. 
But  for  the  very  great  disparity  that  exists  in  the  view  points 
of  men  and  women ;  if  there  were  no  disagreements,  no  strifes, 
no  contentions  among  the  mortals  of  earth,  the  many  good 
people  who  now  feel  the  call  to  indulge  in  fiction-making 
might  have  no  better  occupation  than  that  of  proving  the 
millennium  a  failure.  And,  with  a  good  healthy  millennium 
at  hand,  there  would  be  no  need  of  novels,  perhaps,  particularly 
of  political  novels. 

But  at  the  time  of  which  I  write  we  were  far,  very  far  from 
the  millennium.  Indeed,  mankind  was  now  more  widely  at 
variance  in  its  beliefs  and  disbeliefs  than  ever  before,  and, 
paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  doubtful  if  at  any  period  in 
the  world's  history  had  there  ever  been  so  little  hunger  and 
want.  Teeming  Nature  had  not  faltered  in  its  prolific  bounti- 
fulness.  There  was  neither  famine  nor  plague,  and,  so  far  as 
wars  were  concerned,  all  Christendom  was  at  peace,  one  nation 
with  another. 


94  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Yet,  the  land  was  filled  with  discord.  Personal  animosities 
and  petty  bickerings  prevailed  in  every  avenue  of  life.  Men 
were  gripping  at  one  another's  throats  in  the  market  places; 
women  tore  their  sisters'  reputations  to  shreds  in  the  home 
sanctuaries.  There  were  few  exceptions  to  the  rule,  and  even 
these  exceptional  cases  were  vanishing  before  the  resistless  tide 
of  excessive  endeavor  that  was  sweeping  everything  before  it. 

And  all  for  what?  For  temporary  possession  of  advantage 
and  of  power,  which,  being  attained,  were  not  enjoyed,  for  as 
contention  grew  more  tense  the  fruits  of  it  became  less  perma- 
nent and  more  unstable. 

The  reason  for  these  strange  conditions,  as  has  been  suggest- 
ed, took  rise  in  selfishness,  the  ancient  arch  enemy  of  all  hu- 
mankind, for  it  is  by  no  means  new ;  it  is  only  more  acute  and 
also  more  ferocious  and  wicked.  Finally,  I  fear,  when  our 
intense  struggle  for  individual  supremacy,  under  the  mastery 
of  money,  comes  to  divide  the  multitude  into  many  warring 
factions,  if  indeed  that  day  is  not  already  here;  when,  speci- 
fically in  the  realm  of  politics,  it  comes  to  pass  that,  as  a 
remedy  against  this  money  evil,  we  shall  be  called  out  to  cast 
our  ballots  in  order  to  determine  our  daily  course  of  action, 
even  to  the  kind  of  food  our  neighbors  shall  eat  or  the  raiment 
they  shall  wear,  and  a  great  people,  once  organized  into  adhe- 
sive units  for  mutual  helpfulness  and  national  protection,  are 
rended  into  disorganized  mobs — thus  weakened  and  "reformed" 
into  scattered  and  impotent  particles,  under  the  self-constituted 
leadership  of  talebearers  and  mischief  makers,  the  great  tyrant 
hand  aforementioned,  and  now  waiting  its  opportunity,  will 
reach  out  and  gather  in  the  wasting  spoils. 

But  this  is  preachment,  always  a  poor  instrument  against  im- 
pending disaster — a  useless  remedy  in  the  cure  of  a  diseased 
body  politic,  once  the  deadly  germ  of  greed,  abetted  by  antag- 
onism and  hatred,  has  entered  therein. 


UNFOUNDED     SUSPICION  95 

Not  even  the  complimentary  allusion  of  old  man  Smyser  to 
the  conservative  course  of  "The  Morning  Record"  had  served  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  wrath  that  was  now  coursing  through  the 
mind  of  Arthur  Grey,  for  the  more  he  talked  with  Page  Ban- 
nister on  the  issues  of  the  pending  Presidential  campaign  the 
more  certain  his  conviction  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in 
withholding  that  editorial  charging  "the  Monger  System"  with 
direct  responsibility  for  the  abduction  of  Senator  Twain. 

Yielding  to  Bolston's  advice,  he  told  his  daughter  of  the 
result  of  the  Englishman's  investigations  in  Boston.  Had  she 
divined  it?  It  must  be  so,  for  she  was  unmoved  by  her  father's 
nervous  and  hesitating  recital  of  the  facts,  and  surprised  him 
with  this  remark,  intended,  as  he  must  have  felt,  to  compas- 
sionate him : 

"There  may  be  some  mistake  about  it,  father ;  we  must  con- 
tinue to  hope  for  the  best." 

Thereafter  Enid  betrayed  no  sign  of  disappointment,  but 
thanked  Bolston  in  optimistic  words  for  his  unsolicited  effort, 
and  assumed,  as  he  thought,  an  air  of  unwonted  relaxation,  as 
if,  in  part  at  least,  her  deep  anxiety  had  been  allayed.  This, 
coupled  with  Koppinger's  peculiar  actions,  threw  about  the 
situation  a  new  shade  of  mystery,  which  took  on  additional 
color  when  she  asked  the  Englishman  if  the  millionaire  sena- 
tor had  accompanied  him  to  Boston. 

"Then  you  were  aware  he  was  to  go  that  night,"  said  Bol- 
ston, almost  sharply,  without  replying  directly  to  her  question. 

"No,  but  I  had  a  note  from  him  after  he  returned  telling 
me—" 

"Pardon  me  for  my  abrupt  remark,  Miss  Grey.  Yes,  we 
went  by  the  same  train,  but  I  did  not  know  it  until  the  senator 
arrived  at  the  house  in  Charles  street.  We  returned  together. 
En  route  homeward  the  senator  was  kind  enough  to  propose 


96  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

that  I  should  personally  give  you  the  particulars.  Does  his 
account  coincide  with  my  own?" 

"Very  closely,"  she  replied,  looking  inquiringly  into  his  face. 
"Except  that  Senator  Koppinger  expresses  some  doubt  about 
the  entire  sincerity  of  those  in  the  house  with  whom  he  talked." 

Koppinger  had  expressed  no  such  doubt  to  him,  and  Bolston 
could  not  resist  a  feeling  of  annoyance,  not  to  call  it  by  a 
stronger  term,  to  learn  from  Miss  Grey  herself  that  his  own 
efforts  were  disappointing  to  her.  At  least  this  was  the  mean- 
ing he  read  in  her  reply  and  her  inquiring  look.  After  a  mo- 
ment's hesitation  he  said: 

"An  afterthought  of  the  senator's,  perhaps,  or  he  would  have 
told  me,  I  am  sure.  I  will  see  him  immediately  on  my  return 
to  Washington  tomorrow." 

Of  one  thing  Bolston  was  now  certain:  John  Koppinger's 
interest  was  neither  altruistic  nor  Platonic.  But  he  could  not, 
he  would  not,  believe  that  she,  being  engaged  to  Cornelius 
Twain,  reciprocated  the  millionaire  senator's  feelings.  It 
must  be,  therefore,  the  Englishman  reasoned,  that  Koppinger's 
attachment  antedated  that  of  Twain's.  Perhaps  she  was  en- 
gaged to  him  before  Twain  came  upon  the  scene.  This  thought 
aroused  sinister  doubts  in  Bolston's  mind  in  regard  to  Kop- 
pinger's fidelity  to  his  absent  friend,  and  as  he  analyzed  the 
incidents  of  the  preceding  week  he  could  not  resist  the  conclu- 
sion that  Dick  Bostwick,  with  all  his  astuteness  in  apprehend- 
ing criminals,  had  been  too  hasty  in  his  suspicions  concerning 
Andy  Akers.  For  the  present,  however,  he  would  not  permit 
himself  to  believe  that  Koppinger  was  particeps  criminis  to 
Twain's  disappearance,  nor  that  he  was  even  cognizant  of  the 
means  by  which  it  had  been  accomplished,  should  it  turn  out 
that  force  had  been  used,  as  Grey  verily  believed.  Nor  would 
he  go  directly  to  the  editor  with  his  conjecture,  much  less  to 
Miss  Grey  herself  for  confirmation  of  the  fact,  now  firmly 


UNFOUNDED     SUSPICION  97 

fixed  in  his  mind,  that  John  Koppinger  was  in  love  with  her, 
for  that  was  unnecessary,  and  in  time  he  was  sure  the  whole 
truth  would  be  revealed. 

One  evening,  near  the  end  of  Page  Bannister's  stay  at  the 
Greys,  a  final  dinner  was  given  in  his  honor.  Among  the 
guests  were  Captain  Mikleskoff,  the  fair,  delightful  and  naive 
Margaret,  the  spendthrift  Stephen,  his  opulent  father  and  his 
devoted  and  indulgent  mother.  Senator  Koppinger  was  also 
invited,  and  Bolston  secretly  wondered  at  whose  suggestion 
this  was  done ;  but,  when  Grey,  having  received  a  message  from 
Koppinger,  expressed  his  regret  that  urgent  duties  in  the  Senate 
precluded  the  millionaire  bachelor  from  the  feast,  the  English- 
man, who  aimed  always  to  be  just,  even  in  his  private  opin- 
ions concerning  those  he  could  no  longer  trust,  was  almost 
upon  the  point  of  accusing  himself  of  jealousy,  at  which 
thought  he  laughed  outright. 

"I  wanted  to  bring  the  confirmed  plutocrat  and  the  proleta- 
rian leader  together,"  said  Grey,  when  he  got  Koppinger's 
telegram,  "but  Andrew  Holt  will  be  here  instead  of  Kop- 
pinger to  represent  the  country's  moneybags  and  meet  Bannis- 
ter on  neutral  ground." 

Margaret  Holt  was  placed  to  the  right  of  the  Altrocratic 
leader  when  the  guests  assembled  at  the  table,  and  she  took  the 
first  opportunity  to  rally  him  anent  old  man  Smyser's  some- 
what vitriolic  allusions  to  the  new  party  a  few  days  before. 
Bannister  smiled  and  said  this  was  the  land  of  free  speech,  and 
that  the  homespun  philosopher  and  berry  peddler  was  a  man 
of  honest  and  positive  opinions. 

"I  fear  that  speech  is  too  free  in  your  country,  Mr.  Bannis- 
ter," remarked  the  Russian.  "Only  yesterday  I  heard  a  gentle- 
man of  some  distinction  at  the  Capital  make  the  statement 
publicly  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  the  people  if  the 


98  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

entire  Senate  were  abducted,  and  there  were  those  present  who 
agreed  with  him." 

"Such  fools  should  be  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  the  ballot," 
said  Holt. 

"Oh,  no,"  replied  Bannister.  "They  are  necessary  evils 
under  our  system  of  democracy.  That  kind  of  talk  ought 
really  to  move  men  of  wisdom  to  do  their  duty  at  the  polls." 

"The  Captain  would  send  these  horrible  examples  into  exile," 
exclaimed  Margaret  with  a  merry  laugh. 

"Siberia  wouldn't  be  big  enough  to  hold  them  all,  together 
with  the  consolidators,"  suggested  Grey. 

"And  the  scarlet  press,  too,  from  which  the  multitude  get 
their  dangerous  views,"  remarked.  Bolston,  who,  since  coming 
to  Ashhurst,  had  been  much  disturbed  by  Grey's  radical  out- 
bursts ;  he  feared  an  early  change  in  the  policy  of  "The  Morning 
Record."  Not  that  he  would  shield  "the  Monger  System,"  but 
rather  that  he  would  save  his  friend  the  editor  from  what 
might  prove  to  be  an  ill-advised  step  at  a  most  critical  moment. 

Nor  did  the  Russian  Captain  invite  further  expressions  from 
the  great  Altrocrat,  with  whom  the  adorable  Margaret  seemed 
inclined  to  agree,  sitting  there  at  his  side  and  giving  undivided 
attention  to  all  Page  Bannister  was  saying.  Indeed,  the  Cap- 
tain showed  no  little  impatience  when,  soon  after  the  guests 
arose  from  the  dinner  table,  Margaret  and  Bannister,  comfort- 
ably ensconced  on  a  wicker  settee  just  large  enough  for.  two 
persons  and  occupying  a  retired  nook  on  the  great  porch,  seemed 
never  to  break  off  their  wooing — for  in  the  Russian's  estima- 
tion it  was  nothing  less  than  that. 

What  they  were  saying  he  was  unable  to  hear,  even  had  he 
been  rude  enough  to  have  listened,  for  Mrs.  Holt,  who  adored 
foreigners  on  account  of  what  she  called  their  exquisite  man- 
ners, had  captured  the  Russian  and  was  plying  him  with  a 
rapid  fire  of  questions  concerning  the  Europeans  and  their 


UNFOUNDED     SUSPICION  99 

customs.  So  persistent  was  she  in  holding  his  distracted  atten- 
tion he  was  convinced  she,  too,  was  in  the  conspiracy  to  de- 
prive him  of  Margaret's  society.  He  had  the  good  fortune, 
however,  to  be  carried  to  his  hotel  in  the  Holt  auto  that  even- 
ing, and  to  occupy  a  seat  in  the  tonneau  beside  his  inamorata, 
whispering  his  devotion  into  her  ear  and  sighing  like  a  furnace. 
How  he  hoped  she  would  speak  of  her  tete-a-tete  with  the 
distinguished  Bannister  and  rave  about  his  classical  features, 
for  well  he  knew  the  meaning  of  a  woman's  praise  of  a  rival 
suitor.  But  she  did  not  give  him  even  this  satisfaction,  and, 
so  intent  upon  the  subject  was  he,  after  a  short  silence  he  ven- 
tured some  compliments  of  his  own  that  she  might  be  led  into 
an  expression  concerning  him. 

"A  very  clever  man,  Captain,  I  grant  you,"  was  the  full 
extent  of  her  comment — the  "I  grant  you"  in  a  tone  of  acqui- 
escence that  was  almost  chilling,  leaving  the  smitten  alien  to 
infer  that,  had  he  spoken  of  Bannister  as  a  political  mounte- 
bank or  a  western  stage  robber,  she  would  have  agreed  with 
him  entirely. 

And  all  the  while  Margaret  Holt  was  measuring  the  deco- 
rated Russian  at  her  side  by  the  splendid  American  who  so 
charmed  her  with  his  superior  qualities  during  the  few  short 
minutes  she  was  permitted  to  be  with  him  alone  at  Ashhurst. 
Even  this  much,  but  for  night's  protecting  veil,  were  readable 
in  the  heightened  coloring  of  her  beautiful  face  and  the  newly- 
awakened  light  in  her  glorious  eyes.  She  was  not  thinking  of 
Captain  Nicholas  Mikleskoff. 

From  Ashhurst,  after  a  week's  freedom  from  the  impor- 
tunities of  politicians  and  platform  builders,  Page  Bannister 
went  direct  to  his  home  in  the  west.  Here  he  awaited  the 
action  of  the  Altrocratic  convention,  the  first  national  gather- 
ing of  the  new  party,  by  which  he  was  duly  nominated  for  the 
Presidency.  It  was  a  notable  assemblage,  made  up  from  the 


100  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

dissatisfied  elements  of  the  two  old  parties,  which  were  now 
combined  in  a  common  cause  under  the  banner  of  Conserva- 
tism— a  title  that  suggested  political  asylum  for  the  "captains 
of  industry,"  the  "advance  agents  of  prosperity"  and  the  pro- 
moters of  financial  and  industrial  interests  generally. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  I  may  go  back  to  an  early  incident  in 
Altrocratic  annals,  Page  Bannister  and  his  immediate  ad- 
visers, in  choosing  a  name  for  the  new  party,  struck  the  key- 
note of  popular  sentiment,  and  it  was  soon  to  be  heard  through- 
out all  ruraldom.  Failing  to  find  in  any  of  the  dictionaries  or 
encyclopedias  a  word  that  expressed  the  embodied  principles  in 
which  they  believed,  they  coined  a  term  for  the  occasion.  In 
furtherance  of  their  quest  for  a  ringing  title  by  which  to  em- 
phasize their  altruistic  purpose,  and  having  several  university 
professors  among  their  adherents,  the  task  was  imposed  upon 
the  scholars  of  the  new  party.  After  the  professors  agreed 
upon  the  term  "Altrocratic,"  Bannister  was  called  in  to  give  his 
approval.  He  was  a  cautious  man,  and  knew  with  what  zeal 
and  enthusiasm  intense  partisians,  roused  by  attractive  theories, 
sometimes  push  their  cause;  and  there  was  so  much  in  the 
country's  politics  of  the  unpractical  kind,  so  many  catchy 
phrases  and  high-sounding  resolves,  that  he  asked  the  text-book 
statesmen  for  a  few  days  time  in  which  to  consider  their  deci- 
sion, promising  to  pass  on  the  question  long  before  the  date 
of  the  convention,  which  was  more  than  six  months  away  when 
this  happened. 

Bannister,  far-sighted  as  well  as  cautious,  at  once  wrote  to 
his  friend  Grey,  who  was  then  in  Nagasaki,  Japan,  told  him 
of  the  professors'  etymological  endeavor  and  asked  for  his 
opinion. 

"Admirable !  Admirable !"  wrote  the  editor,  whose  reply  to 
Bannister's  letter  I  was  permitted  to  read  on  our  way  across 
the  Pacific.  "With  that  title  for  your  new  party,"  the  letter 


UNFOUNDED     SUSPICION  101 

continued,  "there  will  be  no  need  of  a  platform.  Literally,  the 
whole  story  is  told  in  a  single  word.  An  Altrocrat,  I  take  h% 
is  one  who  puts  love  of  country  and  the  good  of  his  fellow 
man  above  party  and  personal  gain.  Such  is  the  political  ap- 
plication of  the  wo'rd." 

I  was  about  to  remark  at  this  point  that  altruism  and 
politics  were  opposing  forces,  and  like  oil  and  water  would  not 
mingle,  but  the  next  sentence  in  the  letter  made  this  unneces- 
sary: 

"Altruism  is  the  positive  and  politics  the  negative.  By  fric- 
tion— that  is  by  agitation — the  two  may  be  brought  into  har- 
mony. The  ancients  believed  that  a  body  having  the  quality 
of  attraction  was  possessed  of  a  soul.  Altruism — having  regard 
for  the  well  being  or  best  interest  of  others — has  the  force  of 
attraction.  It  is  of  divine  origin;  it  has  a  soul.  Science  tells 
us  that  all  bodies  are  susceptible  of  electrical  excitement.  Why 
not  experiment  with  the  institution  of  politics,  in  the  hope  of 
imparting  to  it  the  positive  or  spiritual  qualities  of  which  it  ia 
now  wholly  devoid?  I  have  some  doubt,  my  dear  Bannister, 
about  trusting  too  far  to  the  average  scholastic  mind  in  mat- 
ters of  a  strictly  practical  nature,  for  I  have  known  so  many 
men  just  out  of  the  universities  and  colleges  who  were  gone 
daft  in  theory ;  yet,  in  the  matter  of  diction,  of  word  construc- 
tion, we  must  admit  their  superiority.  Yes,  the  word  Altrocrat 
has  my  complete  approval  for  the  purpose  which  you  intend  to 
use  it.  A  Democrat  could  easily  be  a  member  of  either  of  the 
old  political  organizations  if  there  were  nothing  better  for  him 
to  follow,  for  the  principles  of  the  two  parties  were  alike  be- 
fore they  combined.  Happily,  he  may  now  find  the  complete 
expression  of  his  sentiments  within  the  Altrocratic  party,  whose 
theory  is  the  very  groundwork  of  true  democracy  under  a 
republican  form  of  government.  A  party  postulated  upon  the 
precarious  doctrine  that  greed  and  selfishness  shall  be  the  deter- 


102  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

mining  forces  is  a  party  of  Autocracy.  The  party  which  in 
practice  puts  man  before  the  dollar  and  keeps  him  there  is 
necessarily  the  party  of  Altrocracy.  The  people  will  not  at 
once  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  new  word,  but  when  they 
do  it  will  sink  into  their  consciences.  It  has-  substance,  and  will 
grow  upon  the  mind.  I  may  refer  to  you  as  a  Plutocrat  and 
you  to  me  as  a  Populist  or  an  Insurgent.  These  terms  are 
more  or  less  offensive,  and,  when  loosely  applied  by  or  to 
those  of  opposite  political  opinions,  give  rise  to  feelings  of 
retaliation.  If  you  refer  to  me  as  an  Altrocrat  I  accept  the 
appellation  as  a  badge  of  honor.  The  word  conveys  a  distinc- 
tion of  dignity;  it  is  uplifting,  ennobling.  By  its  use  as  a 
party  title  it  will  have  a  decided  tendency  to  lift  politics  out 
of  the  mire.  No  one  could  proudly  boast  that  he  was  not  an 
Altrocrat ;  it  would  reflect  credit  upon  any  man  to  own  that  he 
was  one." 

But  all  this  was  said  months  before  Cornelius  Twain  disap- 
peared. Yet,  it  served  to  reassure  Page  Bannister.  He  had 
great  confidence  in  Grey,  conceded  to  be  the  leading  editor  of 
the  country.  "With  such  thoughtful  men  as  he  proclaiming 
for  the  adaptability  of  the  new  word,"  said  Bannister  to  me, 
"it  will  be  difficult,  I  imagine,  for  the  humorists  and  cartoon- 
ists to  turn  it  to  ridicule.  They  may  even  abandon  the  elephant 
and  the  donkey,  whose  grotesque  counterparts  in  the  funny 
papers  and  colored  supplements  are  training  young  America 
toward  flippancy  instead  of  philosophy." 

And,  now,  how  the  long,  dull  hours  of  these  flagging  sum- 
mer days  were  dragging  by  at  Ashhurst !  Poor  Enid  Grey,  so 
close  to  being  misjudged  by  Ralph  Bolston,  though  she  did 
not  even  suspect  it,  was  nursing  her  unspeakable  grief  in  her 
silent  chamber,  where,  far  into  the  night  time,  long  after  the 
lights  in  the  windows  of  the  Blue  Ridge  hotel  across  the  gorge 
went  out,  and  darkness  had  spread  its  pall  over  the  quiet  scene, 


UNFOUNDED     SUSPICION  103 

she  sat  peering  through  the  open  lattice  into  the  wild  spaces 
of  the  mountainside,  with  no  sound  but  the  echoing  notes  of  the 
whippoorwill  or  the  occasional  flutter  of  the  nighthawk's  wing 
to  wake  her  from  sad  reverie.  Could  Bolston  have  seen  her 
thus,  although  he  might  have  gone  on  indulging  misgivings  in 
regard  to  John  Koppinger,  no  longer  would  he  include  Enid 
Grey  in  his  distrustful  speculations.  It  is  doubtful,  indeed,  if 
he  did  include  her,  except  as  her  fate  is  involved  in  all  these 
pages.  It  was  her  welfare  that  he  was  interested  in,  for  he 
was  devoting  himself  unselfishly  to  the  unravelling  of  a  mys- 
tery the  end  of  which  deeply  concerned  a  warm  and  worthy 
friend  who  had  fallen  into  unusual  misfortune,  and  was  not 
here  to  fend  against  those  who  would  destroy  him.  He  hoped 
John  Koppinger  was  not  one  of  these.  If  it  should  turn 
out  that  he  was,  then  the  Englishman  had  already  dis- 
covered the  bachelor  senator's  purpose,  and  he  conceived  it  his 
duty,  as  he  would  have  had  Twain  do  also  unto  him,  to  prevent 
the  consummation  of  an  object  so  perfidious.  Was  not  this  a 
motive  that  entitled  him  to  high  rank  among  altruists?  But 
there  are  too  many  who  will  say  it  was  only  the  Scotland  Yard 
instinct. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  MYSTERY  IS  INTENSIFIED 

The  day  following  Bolston's  return  from  Ashhurst  he  met 
Captain  Mikleskoff  at  the  Cosmopolitan  Club,  where  a  member 
was  telling  them  in  a  whisper  of  Dick  Bostwick's  suspicions  in 
regard  to  Andy  Akers'  connection  with  the  Twain  abduction, 
the  story  being  known  to  but  very  few.  Most  of  the  club 
members  knew  Akers,  on  account  of  his  good  judgment  of 
horses.  Doubtless,  they  had  heard  also  of  Eva  Farnum. 

"It  isn't  at  all  likely  they  will  hang  him  or  send  him  into 
immediate  exile,"  said  the  Englishman,  smilingly. 

"No,"  replied  the  Captain,  for  whom  the  remark  was  intend- 
ed. "The  courts  will  dilly  dally,  and  hysterical  women  will 
send  flowers  to  him.  Unlike  criminals  in  your  own  country, 
Akers  will  be  a  hero  here." 

"And  Mrs.  Farnum's  friends  will  testify  to  his  good  charac- 
ter," added  Bolston,  laughing  dryly. 

But  even  this  did  not  seem  to  disturb  the  stoical,  fatalistic 
Russian. 

Now,  there  were  two  important  appointments  which  Bolston 
had  decided  upon,  entirely  on  his  own  account,  for  as  yet  the 
persons  whom  he  meant  to  see  were  not  aware  of  his  inten- 
tions. One  was  with  Senator  John  Koppinger,  his  whilom 
companion  on  the  return  trip  from  Boston ;  the  other  with  the 
husband  of  Eva  Farnum.  Very  few  of  her  acquaintances 
knew  her  by  any  other  name,  and  Akers  made  no  objection. 


THE     MYSTERY     IS     INTENSIFIED  105 

When  the  Englishman  called  at  the  senator's  committee 
rooms  in  the  elaborate  office  building  of  the  Capitol  he  was 
told  that  Koppinger  was  in  New  York.  The  millionaire 
statesman  was  in  the  habit  of  going  to  the  metropolis  half  a 
dozen  times  a  year.  He  was  a  director  of  several  corpora- 
tions whose  affairs  are  supposed  to  be  passed  upon  quite  regu- 
larly by  boards  of  directors  gathered  about  long  tables  in 
richly  appointed  quarters  either  in  Jersey  City  or  in  Newark,  in 
compliance  with  the  laws  of  New  Jersey,  under  which,  for 
reasons  quite  familiar  to  my  readers,  a  vast  number  of  these 
concerns  have  been  organized.  For  the  sake  of  convenience, 
the  meetings  of  these  boards  are  arranged  so  that  the  members 
of  them,  those  who  are  on  several  or  many  boards,  may  attend 
all  or  most  of  the  sittings  the  same  day.  Usually,  the  meet- 
ings are  of  short  duration,  the  directors  remaining  only  to  re- 
ceive their  checks  for  twenty-five,  or  fifty,  or  one  hundred  dol- 
lars for  each  meeting,  according  to  the  size  and  importance  of 
the  corporation.  These  payments  are  for  attendance,  not  for 
services,  which  are  readily  performed  by  low-salaried  clerks, 
under  the  president  or  chairman  of  the  board,  who  receives  a 
fabulous  sum  for  his  Napoleonic  talents.  At  the  close  of  their 
arduous  labors,  after  attending  from  one  to  a  dozen  board 
meetings  and  drawing  their  pay,  the  directors  hasten  to  their 
homes  in  New  York: — they  have  been  away  a  whole  day! 
And,  to  the  average  New  Yorker,  even  New  Jersey  is  a  long 
ways  off. 

I  once  met  a  New  Yorker  on  a  west-bound  train  just  as  we 
crossed  the  line  between  North  Dakota  and  Montana,  and 
rarely  has  it  been  my  fate  ever  to  have  met  a  more  miserable 
man.  "For  God's  sake !"  he  cried,  addressing  the  porter, 
"don't  tell  me  how  many  million  miles  I  am  away  from  home, 
but  bring  me  something  to  drink  so  that  I  may  forget  it!" 
Then,  turning  to  me,  he  asked:  "Is  there  no  end  to  this 


106  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

road?  I  never  expect  to  see  my  family  again."  He  was  great- 
ly distressed ;  and  while  I  have  tried  to'  convince  myself  that  it 
was  because  no  liquor  could  be  had  in  North  Dakota,  as.  every- 
one knows,  still  I  am  bound  to  believe  that  he  was  serious,  if 
not  entirely  sober,  for  he  was  one  of  the  very  few  New  Yorkers 
I  had  happened  to  meet  so  far  away  from  home. 

Well,  Koppinger  was  attending  a  series  of  these  meetings  in 
Jersey  City  or  Newark — and  was  therefore  in  New  York.  And 
so  Bolston  came  away  from  the  Capitol  and  sought  Andy 
Akers  at  his  dingy  little  office  opposite  the  Pension  building. 
Akers  was  out,  and  the  colored  janitor  said  he  was  to  return 
directly;  that  he  had  just  stepped  into  a  room  on  the  same 
floor  "to  see  a  ge'man."  Bolston  handed  the  janitor  a  quarter 
and  asked  him  who  "the  ge'man"  was. 

"Ah  doa'n'  know,  sah,  but  ah  reckons  he  is  Mistah  Giddums 
wat  cums  heah  mos'  eb'ry  day,  sah.'  This  sable  factotum,  like 
the  rest  of  his  tribe,  was  skilled  in  the  art  of  imparting  desired 
information,  under  favorable  financial  conditions,  with  the  "ah 
doa'n'  know,  sah,"  as  a  precautionary  premise;  so  that,  had 
Akers  questioned  him  later,  he  might  truthfully  have  answered : 
"Ah  tole  de  ge'man  ah  doa'n'  know,  sah." 

The  Englishman  entered  Akers'  office  and  sat  down,  saying 
to  the  janitor  he  would  wait.  Here  he  looked  at  the  cheap 
print  pictures  of  jockeys  and  famous  horses  tacked  on  to  the 
narrow  dirty  walls,  until  his  eyes  fell  upon  a  poster  some  two 
feet  square,  conspicuously  displayed  over  a  small  oaken  table 
near  the  single  window.  On  the  poster,  which  was  of  heavy 
cotton  cloth,  were  the  words  in  bold  display:  "One  Hundred 
Thousand  Dollars  Reward  for  the  Recovery  of  Cornelius 
Twain.  Fifty  Thousand  Dollars  for  Information  Leading  to 
his  Recovery.  By  order  of  the  President.  Calvin  Clements, 
Secretary  of  State.  Richard  Bostwick,  Chief  of  Detectives, 
Washington,  D.  C."  These  bills  were  not  uncommon.  They 


THE     MYSTERY     IS     INTENSIFIED  107 

might  have  been  seen  at  this  time  on  almost  every  board  fence 
in  the  country.  Just  to  the  right  of  the  poster,  there  was  a 
campaign  lithograph,  a  fac-simile  of  Senator  John  Koppinger ! 

The  humorous  coincidence  caused  the  Englishman  of  Irish 
descent  to  smile  broadly,  and,  but  for  footsteps  in  the  hall 
just  then,  he  might  have  laughed  audibly.  It  was  the  janitor. 
He  came  to  say  that  "Mistah  Akus"  would  be  there  very  soon. 

Making  a  movement  as  if  searching  in  his  pocket  for  another 
quarter,  Bolston  asked  one  or  two  misleading  questions,  fol- 
lowed by  this  one : 

"Whose  is  the  picture  over  there,  Sam?"  It  was  Sam's  com- 
ment he  wanted. 

"Dat,  sah,  is  Senator  Koppi'ger.  He's  a  mighty  good  frien' 
of  Mistah  Akus.  But  ah  reckons  he  ain't  lak  dat  one  dey 
kotch  in  der  gerloon ;  he's  mo'  smaht,  ah  spect,  sah." 

"You  mean  Senator  Twain?" 

"Yes,  sah — de  one  dat  was  shanghaied  an'  dey  gib  de  money 
to  fine.  Ah  reckons  Mistah  Akus  gits  dat  money,  sure.  Mis- 
tah Koppi'ger  been  heah  to  see  'bout  it." 

Then  Sam's  eyes  were  lowered  to  the  region  of  Bolston's 
pocket,  but  the  Englishman  did  not  respond,  for  that  would 
have  made  the  purpose  of  his  questions  altogether  too  apparent. 

"Mistah  Bostic,  de  chief,  he  been  heah  too,  sah.  Ah  reckons 
you  alls  'ill  get  'im  bimeby,"  the  janitor  was  saying  when  he 
heard  Akers  coming  leisurely  along  the  hall. 

The  meeting  between  Bolston  and  Mrs.  Farnum's  husband 
was  marked  by  an  air  of  indifference  that  each  must  have 
known  to  be  assumed  by  the  other.  The  Englishman  was  at 
greater  ease  than  Akers,  for,  by  the  use  of  the  kind  of  diplo- 
macy that  goes  far  with  the  enfranchised  African,  he  had 
derived  more  information  from  the  janitor  than  he  expected  to 
get  out  of  Andy  Akers,  all  told.  He  knew  of  Bill  Giddings 
through  common  report,  which  classed  that  gentleman  with 


108  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  high  rollers  of  the  local  stock  market ;  had  heard  his  opin- 
ions quoted  by  those  members  of  the  club  who  admitted  their 
familiarity  with  such  intricacies  of  the  Exchange  as  "puts  and 
calls,"  "visible  supply,"  "foreign  demand,"  "domestic  produc- 
tion" and  the  like.  Giddings,  besides  a  wide  range  of  knowl- 
edge concerning  politics  and  the  crops,  was  also  accepted  as 
authority  on  the  curb  as  to  railroad  shares — this,  presumably, 
by  reason  of  his  close  relations  with  Sam  Ives,  the  trusted 
friend  and  political  and  business  associate  of  Eph  Fox,  general 
counsel  of  the  C.  Q.  D.  Railroad,  which  was  now  coming  out  of 
the  hands  of  a  receiver,  Ives,  by  the  way,  with  a  volume  of 
apparent  earnings  that  sent  the  stock  to  a  prodigious  height. 

And  Giddings  was  with  Akers  only  a  few  minutes  ago.  To 
know  all  this  in  advance  of  his  contemplated  talk  with  him, 
and  also  that  Koppinger  was  in  the  habit  of  consulting  Akers, 
was  to  be  doubly  fortified  for  the  parley.  Still,  the  English- 
man was  at  this  disadvantage :  If  Akers  was  culpable,  he 
alone  knew  it,  no  matter  if  the  crime  were  directly  his  own  or 
whether  it  belonged  elsewhere,  he  being  privy  to  it.  This, 
above  all,  was  what  Bolston  wished  to  find  out,  independently 
of  Bostwick's  line  of  investigation.  In  this  light,  it  was  all 
the  more  necessary  that  the  former  Scotland  Yard  man  should 
proceed  with  extreme  caution;  and  yet  he  must  come  to  the 
point  in  a  way  that  would  at  once  put  all  cavil  to  rout. 

Bearing  in  mind  Enid  Grey's  commission  to  find  her  lost 
lover — a  duty,  in  Bolston's  estimation,  more  sacred  to  him  than 
if  he  were  a  sworn  officer  of  the  law ;  remembering  her  appeal- 
ing look — never  to  be  forgotten — when  she  spoke  to  him  on 
the  subject  that  evening  at  her  father's  house,  and  putting 
behind  him  for  the  present  all  suspicion  as  to  John  Koppinger, 
his  courage,  always  invincible,  was  now  at  high  tension. 

"Mr.  Akers,  I  am  a  very  close  friend  of  Mr.  Grey's  and  his 
family,  as  deeply  interested  as  they  in  the  recovery  of  Senator 


THE     MYSTERY     IS     INTENSIFIED  109 

Twain.  It  is  far  more  important  to  us  that  he  should  return 
alive  than  that  his  persecutors,  if  there  be  such,  should  receive 
their  legitimate  reward  at  the  hands  of  the  law.  This  can  be 
arranged — " 

"Stop !"  commanded  Akers,  raising  his  hand  and  pulling 
himself  out  of  the  deep  old  trap  of  a  chair  into  which  he  had 
dropped  on  entering  the  room.  Ambling  to  the  door,  which 
was  somewhat  ajar,  he  closed  and  locked  it,  shutting  also  the 
dusty  transom  window  above.  Then  he  came  back  to  where 
Bolston  had  been  sitting — for  by  this  time  the  Englishman 
was  on  his  feet.  Looking  his  visitor  straight  in  the  eyes,  Akers 
said: 

"What  if  I  should  tell  you,  sir,  that  I  am  the  one  that 
planned  and  carried  out  the  abduction?" 

"I  should  say,  in  that  case,"  coolly  replied  the  other,  "that 
either  you  are  a  fool,  or  that,  being  guilty,  your  conscience 
was  smiting  you,  and  you  had  resolved  to  pay  the  penalty." 

"And  you  would  be  wrong  on  both  propositions.  Fool ! 
Conscience!  Bah!"  And  he  snapped  his  fingers  scornfully. 

"Have  you  said  as  much  to  Chief  Bostwick  as  to  me?" 
asked  Bolston. 

"I  have  said  nothing  to  Bostwick.  He  is  a  nice  man,  but  all 
that  is  wanted  by  any  officer  that  wears  a  star  is  to  get  a  man 
into  the  toils — any  man  will  do,  guilty  or  not.  They're  like 
some  of  the  newspapers." 

"And  you  prefer  that  he  should  not  know?" 

"Prefer  nothing !     Tell  him,  if  you  like." 

"No,  I  will  not  mention  it  to  any  one,"  replied  the  English- 
man. 

"Of  one  thing  you  may  rest  assured,  sir — I  will  not  run 
away.  My  office  hours  are  from  nine  to  four  every  day.  From 
five  to  six  I  am  at  my  farm  near  Chevy  Chase.  Evenings  I 
am  home." 


110  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"At  Mrs.  Farnum's?" 
"My  wife's;  yes,  sir." 

A  gentle  rap  at  the  door  put  an  end  to  further  talk  between 
them.  Akers  unlocked  and  opened  it,  and  the  Farnum,  a  sad 
expression  on  her  haggard  face,  stepped  into  the  room. 

"My  wife,  Mr.  Bolston,"  said  Akers.  Then,  after  the 
Englishman  and  Mrs.  Akers  had  shaken  hands:  "Eva,  will 
you  part  with  the  dapple  grey?  I  think  Mr.  Bolston  would 
like  to  have  him." 

"Not  for  any  money,  Andy;  no,  indeedy!" 

"I  would  not  deprive  you  of  your  pet,  madam,"  said  Bolston, 
gallantly. 

That  night,  when  Eva  and  Andy  were  preparing  for  bed, 
she  asked  him  why  the  door  was  locked  and  the  transom  shut 
when  she  arrived  at  the  office.  Her  curiosity  was  aroused, 
and  she  knew  intuitively  there  was  something  more  serious  than 
mere  horse  talk  going  on  before  she  came. 

"Force  of  habit,  my  dear,"  he  replied. 

"And  I  saw  Giddings  leaving  the  building  as  I  drove  up," 
she  added.  "There  is  something  in  the  wind,  Andy,  that  you 
do  not  want  me  to  know.  Have  I  ever  betrayed  you?" 

Always,  when  Akers  was  hard  pressed  for  an  answer,  he 
would  hang  his  head  and  say  not  a  word.  This  was  a  never- 
failing  sign  of  discomposure  in  him,  and  Eva  knew  it. 

"I  asked  a  question,  Andy,  and  you  do  not  reply.  Have  I 
ever  betrayed  you?" 

"I'm  so sleepy,  Eva,  I  can't  think.     Forget  it." 

"Surely,"  she  thought,  as  she  lay  there  awake  far  into  the 
morning,  turning  the  problem  in  her  mind,  "it  can't  be  so 
awfully  serious,  or  he  wouldn't  sleep  so  soundly." 

Still,  Andy  Akers  was  the  greatest  human  enigma  ever  she 
had  known.  She  verily  believed  that  if  he  were  condemned  to 
die  at  a  given  hour  of  the  morning,  he  would  not  allow  the 


THE     MYSTERY     IS     INTENSIFIED  111 

matter  to  interfere  with  slumber  the  night  before — not  Akers — 
and  on  awaking,  even  while  the  hangman  was  at  his  cell  door, 
he  would  turn  to  the  priest  praying  by  his  side  and  ask  about 
the  condition  of  the  grey  gelding  at  the  farm. 

It  must  be  that  his  last  thoughts  before  falling  asleep  that 
night  were  of  Sam  Ives  and  Eph  Fox,  for  when  he  awoke  next 
morning  he  asked,  drowsily : 

"Where  are  they,  Eva?" 

"I  am  not  sure — St.  Louis,  I  think;  Fox  is,  most  always," 
was  her  immediate  answer. 

Some  marvelous  psychological  results  have  been  noted  in 
consequence  of  the  appropinquity,  for  a  period  of  several  hours, 
of  two  healthy  bodies  such  as  Eva's  and  Andy's.  One  of  these 
days  someone  _  whose  specialty  it  is  to  deal  with  the  abstruse 
question  will  discover  that  the  three-quarter  bed — too  often  it 
is  even  narrower  than  that — is  responsible  for  a  large  percent- 
age of  the  divorces  that  are  being  granted,  particularly  those 
for  incompatibility  of  temper. 

Eva  Farnum,  so  called,  and  Andy  Akers  had  not  taken  to 
the  modern  habit  of  separate  repose;  they  slept  in  the  same 
bed,  as  the  matrimonial  archives  in  the  Recorder's  office  will 
show  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  do.  A  very  large  bed,  it  was, 
too,  almost  square  in  its  dimensions ;  but  the  mattress  on  which 
they  slept  was  afflicted  with  prolapsus  medii,  by  consequence  of 
Eva's  excessive  avoirdupois  and  singleness  during  her  widow- 
hood. 

So  that  Eva  and  Andy,  being  subject  to  restlessness,  and 
the  nights  being  warm,  inviting  slumber  near  the  far  edges, 
awoke  mornings  to  find  the  inexorable  law  of  gravity  had 
tumbled  them  together  into  the  trough  of  their  broad  and 
spineless  couch.  In  this  situation,  as  they  slept  peacefully  on 
through  the  night,  the  imperceptible  electrical  currents  of  the 
separate  bodies,  after  revivifying  thousands,  yea,  millions  of 


112  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

depleted  micro-organisms,  were  now  flitting  from  one  body  to 
the  other,  thus  equalizing  the  magnetic  forces  of  both,  Eva 
supplying  those  chemical  ingredients  of  which  Andy  was  de- 
ficient, and  vice  versa. 

I  may  stop  here  to  suggest  that,  perhaps,  children  jporn  of 
such  a  bed  are  likely  to  be  strong  and  hardy,  possessed  of  good 
mental  equipment,  on  the  theory  that  a  perfect  physical  basis 
is  surety  for  normal  brain  development.  But  I  will  not  em- 
bark on  this  broad  sea  of  speculation;  we  are  considering  only 
the  case  of  Mrs.  Farnum  and  Andy  Akers,  who  as  yet  were 
childless,  and  we  are  concerned  just  now  particularly  about 
the  possibility  of  the  transmission  of  thought  a  priori  between 
man  and  wife  whose  bodies  are  mutually  en  rapport,  ut  supra; 
which  bright  idea,  I  am  free  to  confess,  came  to  me  with  un- 
wonted spontaneity  when  Eva,  just  waking  from  the  soundest 
of  slumbers,  gave  immediate  answer  to  her  spouse's  first  morn- 
ing question,  which  pertained  to  two  dubious  citizens  who  are 
to  become  prominent  in  this  volume,  and  about  whom  neither 
Mrs.  Farnum  nor  her  loving  husband  had  said  a  word  for 
many  days  back  and  gone.  "Where  are  they,  Eva?"  "I  am 
not  sure — St.  Louis,  I  think.  Fox  is,  most  always."  Whom 
else  could  Andy  have  had  in  mind  when  he  awoke?  And, 
but  for  the  stimulating  effects  of  the  condition  of  appropin- 
quity  surrounding  Eva  and  Andy  at  that  moment,  how  other- 
wise could  she  have  known  that  he  was  referring  to  the  Hon- 
orable Samuel  Ives,  whom  Akers  detested  above  all  men,  and 
the  Honorable  Ephraim  Fox,  about  whom  personally  he  cared 
not  a  fig,  except  in  respect  of  Fox  as  a  possible  contributor  to 
future  bad  fortune  for  Ives? 

At  the  breakfast  table,  an  hour  later,  the  probable  where- 
abouts, as  well  as  the  present  state  of  mind  and  financial  re- 
sources of  the  distinguished  C.  Q.  D.  lawyer  and  his  lobbyist 
friend,  were  discussed  more  at  length.  Akers  was  aware  of 


THE     MYSTERY     IS     INTENSIFIED           113 

the  fact  that  his  wife  possessed  an  itching  palm.  He  knew 
also  that  as  a  girl,  the  daughter  of  respectable  Boston  parents, 
who  gave  her  a  good  education,  she  had  been  courted  assidu- 
ously for  a  time  by  Eph  Fox.  It  was  not  for  him  to  inquire  into 
the  secret  of  Fox's  change  in  sentiment  and  his  connivance  at 
her  subsequent  marriage  to  Ben  Farnum,  who  was  a  worthless 
sort  of  chap  that  followed  the  races  as  a  "booky."  What  in- 
terested him  now  was  whether  Eva,  still  buxom  and  gay, 
would  be  able  to  exert,  with  due  precaution  for  his  own  recent- 
ly-acquired rights,  something  of  her  old-time  influence  over 
the  railroad  attorney.  Moralizing  thus,  he  casually  remarked : 

"You  are  an  old  friend  of  Eph's  and  wouldn't  object  to  go- 
ing with  me  to  St.  Louis,  would  you?" 

"Delighted!"  she  exclaimed,  her  face  glowing  with  sudden 
animation. 

"I  must  know  everything  that  he  says  to  you,  of  course." 

"Oh,  Andy !    Surely  you  do  not  already  distrust  me." 

"Purely  a  matter  of  business,  Eva,"  said  he. 

"It  is  sweet  of  you  to  put  it  that  way.  Yes,  I  will  tell  you 
everything,  Andy,  and  gladly." 

So  it  was  arranged  that  they  would  leave  for  the  Mississippi 
metropolis  the  next  day;  and  the  first  thing  Akers  did  was  to 
find  Bolston  and  tell  him  of  his  intended  trip  to  the  west, 
and  where  he  could  be  found  if  wanted.  He  wasn't  "running 
away."  But  he  said  nothing  about  the  nature  of  his  business 
in  St.  Louis. 

By  this  time  Senator  Koppinger  was  back  from  New  York. 
Intent  on  going  forward  with  his  self-assumed  task  of  pene- 
trating the  mystery  now  revolving  about  John  Koppinger's 
peculiar  conduct,  Bolston  sought  an  early  interview  with  that 
gentleman.  Meeting  him  casually  at  the  club,  he  made  known 
his  purpose,  and  the  two  went  to  a  private  room  on  the  upper 
floor  of  the  building.  Koppinger  himself  coolly  locked  the 


114  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

door  when  they  were  inside,  as  if  it  were  he  who  had  business 
with  the  Englishman,  and  before  the  latter  could  say  anything 
the  senator  began: 

"Your  close  relations  with  the  Greys  entitles  you  to  an  ex- 
planation from  me,  Mr.  Bolston."  Then  he  referred  to  the 
note  sent  by  him  to  Miss  Grey  on  his  return  from  Boston,  for 
he  knew  of  the  Englishman's  and  Bannister's  sojourn  at  Ash- 
hurst  (the  papers  had  recounted  that  incident  with  much 
speculation  as  to  its  significance),  and  must  have  guessed  that 
Bolston  discussed  the  subject  of  his  Boston  investigations  with 
Mr.  Grey  and  his  daughter,  as,  indeed,  Koppinger  himself  had 
requested  him  to  do  in  respect  of  Enid. 

"My  sending  the  note,"  he  continued,  "was  prompted  by  a 
desire  not  to  alarm  Miss  Grey.  After  leaving  you  it  occurred 
to  me  that  it  would  soften  the  blow  if  I  expressed  a  doubt 
about  the  entire  truthfulness  of  the  occupants  of  the  Charles 
street  house.  Furthermore,  on  my  return  I  talked  with  Sena- 
tor Twain's  confidential  secretary  in  regard  to  the  old  aunt — 
not  the  pseudo  aunt,  but  the  real  one — for  he  has  an  aunt  in 
Boston;  I  have  seen  a  letter  from  her  to  her  unfortunate 
nephew,  written  since  we  were  there.  She  does  not  live  in 
Charles  street,  but  in  Cambridge." 

This  straightforward  recital  by  Koppinger  restored  him,  in 
part  at  least,  in  Bolston's  confidence,  and  the  Englishman 
secretly  hoped  that  before  the  interview  was  over  the  restora- 
tion would  be  complete  and  lasting;  but  it  was  not,  for  at  the 
end  he  still  believed  John  Koppinger's  interest  in  Enid  Grey 
was  more  than  a  friendly  interest. 

"And  now,"  continued  the  senator,  "I  will  give  you  some 
family  history,  with  the  understanding  that  it  is  not  to  be  re- 
peated to  anyone,  for  obvious  reasons."  Bolston  nodded  his 
head.  "Above  all,  the  Greys  must  not  know  it.  About  ten 
years  ago  a  cousin  of  Senator  Twain's,  a  beautiful  girl,  the 


THE     MYSTERY     IS     INTENSIFIED           115 

daughter  of  the  Cambridge  aunt,  met  with  a  reverse  in  a 
love  affair.  It  was  supposed  she  was  engaged  to  a  promising 
young  attorney,  and  that  for  reasons  which  were  said  to  in- 
volve her  integrity  he  broke  with  her.  Current  gossip  imputed 
dishonorable  conduct  to  him.  In  her  desperation  she  married 
a  man  she  did  not  love.  About  a  year  ago  she  divorced  him 
through  the  Reno  process  and  soon  afterward  remarried.  Her 
home  is  here  in  Washington,  where  she  is  known  as  Mrs.  Far- 
num.  Her  present  husband  is  a  man  of  the  name  of  Akers." 

"I  have  heard  of  him ;  indeed,  I  have  met  him,"  interrupted 
the  Englishman ;  "also  his  wife." 

Koppinger  gave  him  a  quizzical  look,  and  then  went  on : 

"Having  told  you  this  much,  I  ought  to  add  that  the  mother 
renounced  her  daughter  and  has  never  forgiven  her.  Twain's 
parents  being  dead,  he  appears  to  have  centered  his  affections 
upon  his  Cambridge  relative  and  to  have  tried  to  bring  about 
a  reconciliation  between  them.  The  mother  has  remained 
obdurate,  and  when  the  girl  married  Akers,  Twain  ceased 
his  efforts,  continuing,  however,  his  visits  to  Cambridge.  All 
this  was  confided  to  me  by  Twain  himself,  who  during  the 
past  few  years  has  been  much  cast  down,  for  he  has — or  had — 
a  most  sensitive  nature  and  was  jealously  vain  of  his  family's 
good  name." 

"You  say  had,  senator;  do  you  believe  Twain  to  be  dead?" 
asked  the  Englishman. 

"I  have  no  belief  about  it,"  answered  Koppinger. 

"You  know  Akers?"  said  Bolston,  with  an  inflection  that 
could  have  been  interpreted  as  being  either  a  remark  or  an 
interrogation,  for  it  was  both,  and  it  had  the  desired  effect. 

"Y-yes,"  replied  Koppinger.  Then,  after  a  considerable 
pause :  "He  has  done  some  political  work  for  me." 

Why  this  hesitating  admission?  thought  Bolston.  And  in 
truth  it  was  not  as  frank  and  straightforward  as  the  rest  of 


116  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Koppinger's  statement.  Still,  it  may  be  that  he  was  not  dis- 
posed to  boast  of  his  acquaintance  with  Mrs.  Farnum's  hus- 
band. Could  there  be  another  reason?  Or  were  Bolston's  ap- 
prehensions the  fruit  of  fantasy? 

Then  the  Englishman,  thanking  Koppinger  for  the  mark  of 
confidence  in  giving  him  the  details  of  Mrs.  Farnum's  "ro- 
mance," came  away.  If  he  had  made  any  progress  with  John 
Koppinger  and  Andy  Akers,  it  was  in  unexpected  directions; 
nor  had  Koppinger,  by  any  word  or  action,  betrayed  himself. 
As  for  Akers,  Bolston  was  quite  sure  that  he  had  not  admitted 
his  complicity  in  the  crime  to  anyone  else.  This  was  strongly 
evidenced  in  Akers'  closing  of  the  door  and  the  transom  before 
admitting  it  to  him,  and  in  his  suddenly  changing  the  subject 
when  his  wife  came.  And  yet,  why  had  he  thrown  himself 
upon  the  Englishman's  mercy?  Surely,  he  could  not  thus  go 
on  defying  the  law  and  expect  to  remain  at  liberty.  And 
should  he  ever  come  to  trial  what  was  there  for  him  but  a  plea 
of  guilty?  Scotland  Yard  had  not  furnished  anything  like 
this! 


CHAPTER  XI 

A    POLITICAL    SLANDER 

Margaret  Holt  has  just  arrived  to  take  Enid  and  me  in  her 
car  for  a  wild  run  among  these  miniature  Parnassi — the  Blue 
Ridges — only  we  three.  How  delightful!  I  shall  now  learn 
from  Margaret  herself  something  about  the  sentimental  side 
of  Page  Bannister.  Won't  it  be  fine!  And  what  a  piece  of 
good  fortune,  thought  I,  to  occupy  a  seat  between  these  radi- 
ant queens  of  many  hearts.  Oh,  pshaw !  Here  comes  Enid's 
father,  for  whom  I  immediately  recalled  Margaret's  fondness. 
But,  of  course,  he  will  sit  beside  the  driver,  and,  being  so  fleshy, 
will  soon  tire  of  turning  to  engage  in  the  conversation.  Strange 
that  we — I  mean  middle-aged  gentlemen  like  Grey — seldom 
realize  how  much  they  are  sometimes  in  the  way ! 

As  we  are  about  to  start,  Enid's  attention  is  attracted  to  an 
auto  which  has  just  turned  in  from  the  common  highway  on 
the  mountain  side  and  is  now  coming  down  the  narrow  private 
road  toward  the  house.  The  tonneau  is  empty,  but  in  the 
seat  forward  there  is  a  man,  linen  clad  and  wearing  a  modish 
Panama  hat.  It  is  John  Koppinger.  He  was  not  expected, 
but  being,  as  we  have  already  seen,  a  close  friend  of  the  Greys, 
I  thought  nothing  of  his  suddenly  appearing  on  the  scene.  It 
would  have  been  different  with  my  friend  the  Englishman, 
had  he  been  present ! 

"Don't  miss  your  ride  on  my  account,"  said  Koppinger.     "I 


118  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

will  wait  on  that  cool  and  inviting  porch  over  there  until  your 
return." 

"Come  with  us,  senator,"  said  Enid  and  her  father  in  the 
same  breath. 

So  it  came  about,  on  Enid's  insistence,  that  Margaret  sat 
between  the  senator  and  me,  while  she  took  one  of  the  little 
swinging  seats  on  the  side  directly  in  front  of  the  newcomer. 

After  a  run  of  some  fifty  or  more  miles  through  the  great 
natural  parks  of  chestnut,  beechwood  and  soft-maple,  along 
wide  winding  roads  leading  around  and  over  thickly  wooded 
promontories;  swinging  now  and  again  from  the  huge  mouth 
of  some  forest  gap  on  to  fertile,  highly-cultivated  plateaus 
which  the  owners  have  staked  off  and  are  selling  at  fabulous 
prices  for  residence  sites,  we  came,  on  our  return,  to  superb 
Holtleigh,  where  we  took  leave  of  the  fair  Margaret,  who, 
after  all  my  little  selfishnesses,  had  devoted  herself  to  me  so 
assiduously  that,  besides  being  much  flattered  by  her  attentions, 
I  almost  wished  the  foreign  Captain  could  have  seen  us !  And, 
as  for  Grey,  he  was  so  wedged  in  the  front  seat  he  found  it 
quite  impossible  to  turn  and  look  back  at  all.  At  the  end  of 
the  run  he  would  have  had  much  difficulty  in  getting  out,  but 
for  the  assistance  of  the  chauffeur.  How  sad,  thought  I,  that 
age  was  dealing  so  harshly  with  him !  The  elderly  gentlemen 
who  read  this  chronicle,  if  ever  they  have  been  similarly  sit- 
uated, a  most  beautiful  girl  in  the  tonneau  or  anywhere  else 
near  by  and  still  out  of  sight,  will  know  how  to  sympathize  with 
my  editor  friend ;  but  not  I ! 

I  felt  intuitively  that  there  must  be  some  unusual  reason  for 
Koppinger's  unexpected  coming  to  Ashhurst,  with  the  Senate 
hastening — a  rare  thing  for  that  body  to  do — to  close  the  long 
session  so  that  its  members,  of  both  parties,  might  attend  the 
big  conventions  soon  to  come  together  in  Chicago,  and  the  dire 
necessity  of  senators  being  constantly  present  to  prevent  sur- 


A     POLITICAL     SLANDER  119 

prises  in  the  consideration  of  the  Purchase  bill,  for  the  second 
amendment  was  still  in  midair  and  the  unrecorded  vote  on 
it  had  not  yet  been  announced.  But  I  was  not  sufficiently  in 
his  close  confidence  to  learn  the  nature  of  his  mission  to  Ash- 
hurst,  and  did  not  know  about  it  until  the  editor  called  me 
into  consultation  the  next  morning,  after  Koppinger  left  for 
the  Capital.  Nor  did  I  permit  curiosity  to  lead  me  into  in- 
quiry. 

"The  cephalopodic  Monger  System,"  said  Grey,  "is  planning 
to  defeat  Senator  Twain  for  reelection,  assuming  that  he  is 
alive.  Not  only  that,  but  its  miserable  agents  have  concocted 
and  are  circulating  a  vile  slander  calculated  to  smirch  his  good 
name.  Koppinger  came  up  to  tell  me  about  it.  The  dastards 
would  blacken  his  reputation  even  though  he  were  dead." 

"Such,  my  friend,  is  modern  politics,"  I  suggested. 

"But  a  decent  regard  for  him  in  his  extraordinary  misfor- 
tunes would  seem  to  be  his  due.  They  are  poisoning  the  pub- 
lic mind  in  his  state  with  the  story  that  by  remaining  away 
from  the  Senate  he  is  serving  the  sordid  interests." 

"And  once  the  story  is  believed,"  I  added,  "it  will  follow 
him  to  the  eternal  oblivion  of  his  grave.  Such  is  the  recep- 
tivity of  the  masses." 

"That  is  the  detestable  part  of  it,"  he  replied.  "Now,  I 
want  you  to  assist  me  in  refuting  it,  by  your  wise  advice,  at 
least." 

Just  then  Enid  came  upon  the  porch  where  we  were  sitting. 
She  wore  a  look  of  sadness,  and,  as  I  thought,  one  of  appre- 
hension as  well.  I  rose  and  offered  my  chair,  but  she  thanked 
me,  saying  she  came  only  to  ask  her  father  if  Senator  Kop- 
pinger brought  any  news  from  the  city  and  why  he  had  re- 
turned so  hastily. 

"It  seems  to  me,  my  dear  child,  that  no  news  would  be  far 
better." 


120  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Please,  dear  father,  I  would  be  very  much  happier  if  you 
were  not  so  despondent,"  said  she,  stroking  his  gray  hair  and 
kissing  his  forehead,  as  if  he  were  the  one  most  in  need  of  be- 
ing comforted.  Such  was  her  compassionate  nature. 

Then,  in  the  gentlest  tone  and  words  at  his  command,  he 
told  his  daughter  of  the  situation  in  Senator  Twain's  state. 
Her  face  paled  and  her  lips  quivered,  but  in  another  instant 
the  color  returned  and  her  eyes  almost  gleamed  with  a  light 
that  I  am  sure  no  one  had  ever  seen  there  before.  It  was  the 
fire  of  indignation  now  burning  relentlessly  at  the  very  win- 
dows of  her  white  soul. 

"Father,"  said  she,  "I  shall  enter  the  campaign  in  person, 
and  at  once.  Whatever  the  nature  of  the  charge  against  him, 
I  know  it  is  a  base  falsehood  that  is  being  used  to  destroy  him. 
It  must  be  answered.  I  will  hurl  back  the  infamous  accusa- 
tion !  You  will  approve,  I  am  sure." 

"I  do  approve,  Enid,  and  I  will  go  with  you.  You  are  a 
brave,  honest  girl,"  exclaimed  her  father,  in  a  voice  that 
trembled  with  suppressed  emotion.  In  another  moment  he 
had  folded  his  daughter  in  his  arms. 

Love,  it  is  said,  cannot  see;  it  is  blind.  A  love  like  Enid 
Grey's  needs  no  eyes;  its  vision  is  through  the  heart.  She  did 
not  wait  to  learn  the  details  of  the  slander ;  it  was  enough  that 
his  character  had  been  assailed.  To  defend  him  in  any  event 
and  under  all  circumstances  was  the  highest  duty  she  could 
perform. 

Vacancies  occur  in  senatorial  seats  through  various  causes — 
by  death,  by  defeat,  seldom  by  resignation,  but  never  until  now 
by  abduction.  Yet  Twain's  seat  was  not  vacant — unless  he 
were  dead.  This  dread  possibility  was  as  yet  only  a  matter 
of  harrowing  surmise  on  the  part  of  his  friends,  and  of  cold 
political  speculation  among  those  who  would  be  glad  to  suc- 
ceed him. 


A     POLITICAL     SLANDER  121 

It  was  several  days  after  Twain's  disappearance  before  it 
dawned  upon  the  public  mind  that  his  term  of  service  would 
expire  on  the  fourth  of  March  following.  There  was  so  little 
thought  of  his  not  being  returned  as  his  own  successor  that  the 
fact  of  the  approaching  close  of  his  first  term  had  seemingly 
escaped  even  the  alert  members  of  the  Press  Gallery.  It  was 
first  suggested  by  a  news  item  to  the  effect  that  Hiram 
Knotter  (a  suggestive  name,  indeed),  whose  talents  as  a  pro- 
moter of  industrial  consolidations  had  earned  for  him  a  wide 
if  not  an  emulative  reputation  at  home  and  abroad,  and  who 
was  now  being  spoken  of  in  some  of  the  public  prints  as  a 
shining  example  of  the  self-made  man — one  who,  finding  noth- 
ing further  to  do  in  his  peculiar  line,  had  resolved  to  enter 
upon  the  philanthropic  task  of  proving  to  the  masses  that 
monopoly  was  a  good  thing — that  Hiram  Knotter,  as  a  pre- 
liminary step  in  this  his  fanciful  beneficence,  which,  as  his 
adulatory  champions  were  saying,  would  ultimately  entitle  him 
to  a  place  in  the  Hall  of  Fame — now  the  far  away  Mecca  of 
repentant  consolidators  and  vicarious  reformers — had  decided 
to  permit  his  friends  to  choose  him  for  a  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  as  the  successor  of  Cornelius  Twain.  All  this 
acquired  additional  color  by  reason  of  the  activity  of  the  cor- 
porations and  other  powerful  interests  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Knot- 
ter. Of  course  Twain's  seat  would  remain  vacant  until  the 
fourth  of  March,  unless  he  should  have  the  good  fortune  to 
return  to  it  in  the  meantime,  or  unless  he  should  die.  In  the 
latter  case  the  governor  would  appoint  a  successor. 

Two  other  aspirants  had  announced  themselves — James  Par- 
sons, an  Altrocrat,  and  a  champion  of  the  Purchase  policy,  and 
Samuel  Sloane,  who  published  a  platform  in  which  he  declared 
that  if  elected  he  would  examine  the  Purchase  bill  thoroughly 
and  vote  "as  his  conscience  dictated;"  also,  that  should  Twain 
return,  even  after  March  fourth,  he  (Sloane)  would  resign  from 


122  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  Senate  so  that  Twain  might  be  appointed  by  the  governor. 
This  was  a  strong  and  wily  bid  for  the  support  of  Twain's 
friends.  It  would  be  difficult  to  overcome  it. 

And,  as  an  earnest  of  Sloane's  promise,  his  friend,  the  Honor- 
able Richard  Sheridan,  ycleped  "the  farmer-orator,"  announced 
himself  for  governor  on  the  Sloane  platform,  pledged  to  ap- 
point Twain.  Under  the  state  law  the  matter  was  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  a  vote  of  the  people,  the  primary  to  be  held  in  Sep- 
tember. 

All  of  which  was  of  deep  interest  to  Hiram  Knotter,  who, 
meantime,  was  deluding  himself  with  the  belief  that  his  philan- 
thropic purposes,  as  outlined  above,  would  win  him  the  support 
of  the  people ;  he  knew,  of  course,  that  he  would  be  satisfactory 
to  the  gigantic  concerns  which  were  the  fruit  of  his  consolidat- 
ing genius.  But,  as  yet,  Mr.  Knotter  was  by  no  means  a  free 
agent,  even  in  politics;  being  a  large  stockholder  in  the  indus- 
trial combinations  he  had  been  so  successful  in  putting  to- 
gether, he  still  owed  something  to  their  success,  and  would  not 
do  anything  that  might  sacrifice  his  prospect  of  dividends. 
And  there  was  the  danger,  too,  that  his  aspirations  would  result 
in  the  success  of  Parsons,  the  thing  above  all  else  the  con- 
solidators  didn't  want. 

"I'm  sorry,  Mr.  Knotter,  but  from  reports  we  get  things 
don't  look  good  for  you.  We  mustn't  lose  this  fight.  The 
big  fellow  east  who  took  the  last  issue  of  C.  Q.  D.  bonds 
won't  stand  for  political  mistakes.  In  order  to  close  the  deal 
we  had  to  give  the  Monger  a  majority  of  our  common  stock, 
mere  water  of  course.  He  will  try  to  put  it  to  par.  If  there's 
no  adverse  legislation,  he  says,  he'll  do  it.  So  you  see  how 
important  it  is  that  we  don't  lose  the  senator  here." 

Eph  Fox  always  spoke  by  the  card.  As  counsel  for  the  C. 
Q.  D.  road  he  knew  what  was  expected  of  him  as  the  political 


A     POLITICAL     SLANDER  123 

manager  for  the  company.  He  was  in  his  private  car,  "on  a 
tour  of  inspection,"  the  papers  said. 

Sam  Ives  was  also  on  board.  Sam  was  the  political  agent 
for  Sloane,  now  dubbed  "the  resigner"  by  the  Parsonites.  Ives 
got  on  the  Fox  special  at  a  little  town  way  back  along  the  line. 
Knotter  had  been  picked  up  at  a  way  station.  These  things 
always  take  place  with  exceeding  care  and  caution,  so  as  to 
keep  the  railroads  out  of  politics ! 

"Are  you  quite  sure  of  Sloane?"  asked  Knotter. 

"What  about  it,  Ives?"  Fox  was  wary  in  regard  to  pledges. 
He  liked  to  have  other  people  make  them,  but  didn't  mind 
being  a  witness. 

"I'll  vouch  for  him;  he  will  'play  the  game,'"  was  Ives' 
reply. 

"If  you're  satisfied,  Mr.  Fox,  I  am,"  said  Knotter,  after  a 
painful  pause.  "But  how  about  his  resignation  if  Twain 
comes  back?"  It  was  not  like  Hiram  to  overlook  details;  and 
he  was  suffering  dreadfully  from  senatoritis.  It's  a  persistent 
disease ! 

"How  about  it,  Ives?"  Fox  looked  blankly  out  of  the  win- 
dow. His  mind  was  not  on  the  possibility  of  Sloane's  good 
intentions.  There  were  dark  visions  before  him,  among  them, 
doubtless,  the  faded  face  of  the  once  beautiful  Eva,  with  whom 
we  are  somewhat  acquainted,  and  the  hard  visage  of  Lawyer 
Roberts,  with  whom  we  are  to  meet  in  subsequent  chapters. 

"If  he  don't  come  back  there'll  be  no  need  of  resigning," 
replied  Ives,  oracularly,  and  in  measured  phrase.  Then  Ives 
smiled  knowingly  upon  both  of  his  companions.  Yet,  at  heart 
he,  too,  was  sorely  perplexed,  for  certain  ugly  rumors  in  regard 
to  the  state  of  mind  of  one  Andy  Akers  had  reached  him  only 
that  morning. 

"Is  that  answer  satisfactory,  Mr.  Fox?" 

"Entirely  so,  Mr.  Knotter." 


124  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Then  I'll  pull  out  of  the  race,"  said  Knotter,  resignedly. 

In  the  game  of  poker  that  followed,  they  called  each  other 

Eph,  Hy  and  Sam,  all  the  way  to  B ,  which  was  Bill 

Giddings'  home.  Here  the  special  car  was  sidetracked  until 
quite  late  that  evening.  Meantime  Fox  made  a  long  visit  at 
the  Giddings  residence,  although  he  was  aware  that  Giddings 
was  away  from  the  city,  in  Washington,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
keeping  an  eye  on  Mrs.  Farnum's  husband.  Mrs.  Giddings 
had  died  ten  years  ago,  leaving  to  the  lonely  child  the  memory 
of  a  character  fine  and  strong.  Only  Martha  Giddings,  the 
sole  occupant  of  the  Giddings  residence  that  night,  and  by  far 

the  most  beautiful  girl  in  B ,  can  tell  how  heroically  she 

struggled  not  to  forget  her  mother's  last  admonitions,  and  to 
what  end. 

In  his  speeches  Parsons  was  charging  the  misfortunes  of 
Twain  upon  the  Conservatives,  the  opponents  of  the  Purchase 
bill.  Sloane  was  advising  the  people  not  to  be  led  away  by 
the  declamations  of  "a  radical  mountebank"  who  was  too  ready 
to  pledge  himself  to  support  any  measure,  whether  he  had 
examined  it  or  not,  or  whether  he  would  know  anything  about 
it  after  he  had  examined  it. 

How  could  the  people  really  know  who  was  right  and  who 
was  wrong?  Each  candidate  had  his  partisans  and  his  organi- 
zation, his  glee  clubs,  his  newspapers  and  his  brass  band — a 
few  of  the  luxuries  of  a  senatorial  campaign  under  the  primary 
law.  Both  sides  denounced  the  monopolies  and  lauded  Cor- 
nelius Twain.  In  the  whirlwind  of  excitement,  the  hurricane 
of  human  endeavor,  there  were  few  who  gave  pause  to  the 
ethical  consequences  of  the  contest.  It  was  faction  against 
faction,  with  the  patronage  that  would  be  distributed  among 
the  faithful  as  the  inviting  prize  of  success. 

Public  sentiment  was  pretty  equally  divided  between  Par- 
sons and  Sloane.  Orators  came  from  all  quarters  to  tell  the 


A     POLITICAL     SLANDER  125 

people  what  to  do.  The  excitement  throughout  the  state  was 
intense.  Merchants  closed  their  stores,  professional  men  left 
their  offices,  farmers  flocked  to  the  towns  and  working  men 
asked  for  leave  of  absence — all  to  parade  the  streets  with 
flying  banners  and  shout  themselves  as  hoarse  as  baseball 
"fans"  in  behalf  of  their  favorites. 

The  comments  indulged  in  by  the  tired,  husky-throated  par- 
tisans furnished  some  evidence  of  the  popular  confusion  and 
displayed  a  variety  of  singular  and  amusing  views  on  the  pend- 
ing issues.  Men  sat  about  the  hotel  lobbies  far  into  the  night 
indulging  their  opinions  concerning  public  questions. 

"That  man  Smith  that  talked  tonight  is  a  nabob.  He  don't 
know  a  toothpick  from  a  harrow  tooth,"  said  one  enthusiast. 

"Well,  he's  got  the  other  fellow  beat  a  mile,  and  can  turn 
round  and  run  home  before  Jones  gets  to  the  end  of  the  string," 
replied  another.  It  was  merely  a  question,  it  will  be  observed, 
of  which  was  the  most  thrilling  spellbinder,  Smith  or  Jones. 

"Ain't  either  of  you  knows  a  cornsheller  from  a  hayrack," 
remarked  a  third.  "Why  don't  you  get  down  to  bed-rock 
principles?  This  ain't  a  hoss  race." 

"Gentlemen,  a  great  public  question  is  being  discussed,"  pro- 
claimed a  fourth.  "It  is  the  most  important  issue  since  one  of 
the  old  parties  tried  to  extend  slavery  to  the  territories.  My 
father  was  a  Freesoiler." 

"Speech!  Speech!"  Then  the  Freesoiler's  son  would  be 
boosted  to  a  barrel  head  or  a  goods  box ;  there  would  be  more 
fireworks  in  the  form  of  oratory,  after  which  the  enthusiastic 
partisans  would  adjourn  to  a  convenient  drug  store,  the  state 
having  gone  "dry"  at  the  last  election.  It  will  be  observed 
that  at  least  one  of  these  partisans  knew  the  true  import  of  the 
momentous  issue  at  hand. 

Thus  the  contest  waged.  The  mails  were  gorged  with  cam- 
paign literature.  Local  editors  called  one  another  bad  names. 


126  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

In  several  instances  families  became  temporarily  disrupted, 
ambitious  sons  taking  issue  with  Conservative  fathers  who  be- 
lieved in  "playing  the  game."  History  was  repeating  itself. 
Men's  minds,  coming  into  conflict  in  the  clash  over  an  epoch- 
making  problem,  were  "striking  fire" — kindling  a  light  by 
which  future  generations  might  find  their  way. 

In  point  of  excitement  and  sensational  incident  the  campaign 
had  scarcely  begun,  for  a  new  and  unexpected  feature  was 
developing.  The  women  of  the  state,  until  now  in  a  quiescent 
mood,  were  about  to  lay  aside  their  household  duties  and  join 
the  surging  throngs  of  male  workers.  Female  suffrage  had 
not  yet  asserted  itself  as  a  moral  force  in  that  commonwealth. 
Until  now  the  gentler  sex  had  been  content  with  those  lighter 
affairs  of  life  belonging  to  the  domestic  culinary  and  the  nur- 
sery, supplemented  by  the  recreative  pastime  of  the  strawberry 
festival,  the  sewing  circle  or  "penny  bridge."  But  the  Twain 
affair — his  mysterious  disappearance  and  Enid  Grey's  love  for 
him — gave  the  campaign  a  tinge  of  real  romance,  and  romance, 
someone  has  said,  is  woman's  controlling  virtue. 

The  white-heat  stage  of  politics  was  reached  when  a  copy  of 
an  anonymous  campaign  circular  was  received  through  the 
postoffices  by  every  voter  in  the  state.  This  document  came 
from  an  unknown  quarter,  but  subsequent  investigation  showed 
that  it  had  been  carried  into  the  state  in  great  quantities  ready 
for  simultaneous  distribution.  It  bore  no  imprint  or  other 
mark  of  identification. 

It  conveyed  the  startling  information — whether  true  or  un- 
true mattered  little,  so  long  as  it  was  surcharged  with  serious 
accusation — that  Cornelius  Twain's  attitude  in  regard  to  the 
Purchase  bill  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he  was  in  the  pay  of 
monopoly ;  that  he  himself,  with  the  sanction  of  his  employers, 
had  planned  the  scheme  of  "abduction"  as  a  cover  for  his 
recreancy,  and  was  now  hiding  in  disguise.  The  story  was 


127 

well  written  and  in  circumstantial  detail  had  about  it  the  air 
of  plausibility.  Here,  then,  was  substantiation,  by  way  of  sug- 
gestion, of  the  Conservative  insinuation  when  Baxter  chal- 
lenged Fordyce  in  the  Senate  to  show  that  Twain  would  have 
voted  with  the  Altrocrats  had  he  been  present. 

Those  who  have  had  experience  in  politics  know  of  the 
damaging  effects  of  this  kind  of  campaigning,  and  how  difficult, 
even  impossible,  it  is  to  overcome  the  wicked  influence  of  a 
carefuly  concocted  falsehood.  It  is  this  sort  of  thing  that  has 
brought  politics  into  disrepute  and  blackened  the  character, 
for  the  time  being  at  least,  yet  all  sufficient  for  immediate  pur- 
poses, of  many  a  man  who  deserved  better  treatment  from  his 
rivals  and  others  who  were  envious  of  his  success. 

The  average  professional  politician  is  easily  the  most  adroit 
fabricator  in  this  regard.  It  must  be  that  his  estimate  of  the 
character  of  other  men  is  founded  upon  his  own  shortcoming, 
which  furnishes  the  criterion  by  which  he  puts  his  crooked 
practices  into  execution.  To  blast  a  reputation,  though  it  have 
"the  probity  of  the  Apostles,"  is  an  accomplishment  that  be- 
longs to  those  of  his  calling  who  have  reached  the  last  stage  of 
desperation  in  the  accomplishment  of  evil  ends.  It  is  a  safe 
assumption,  therefore,  that  the  anonymous  and  scurrilous  cir- 
cular reflecting  upon  the  integrity  of  Senator  Twain  had  its- 
inception  in  the  resourceful  mind  of  Sam  Ives,  and  was  ap- 
proved by  Eph  Fox. 

While  it  may  be  true  that  the  prevarications  of  Ulysses  were 
imposed  upon  the  Phoenicians  because  they  were  a  credulous 
people,  we  have  the  assurance  of  Milton  that 

No  falsehood  can  endure 
Touch  of  celestial  temper,  but  returns 
Of  force  to  its  own  likeness. 

The  falsehood  under  consideration  met  this  fate,  but  not 
until  it  had  served  to  bring  the  sweet  personality  of  Enid  Grey,. 


128  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

a  sorrow-stricken  woman,  into  the  limelight  of  factional  poli- 
tics. But  for  her  heroic  endeavor  it  is  doubtful  if  the  name 
and  fame  of  the  man  to  whom  she  was  tenderly  devoted  would 
have  escaped  the  blighting  consequences  of  the  calumny  that 
was  now  being  sedulously  used  to  destroy  him,  socially  and 
politically. 

If  Twain  were  dead,  even  his  memory  was  not  to  survive 
untarnished;  if  he  were  alive,  all  the  more  reason  why  decent 
consideration  should  be  denied  him.  To  these  appalling  straits 
had  modern  politics  come.  To  this  end  had  the  degenerated 
forces  that  too  often  dictate  the  fate  of  our  nation  at  last  ar- 
rived. 


CHAPTER  XII 

A  HEROIC  WOMAN 

But,  not  many  pages  since,  I  was  telling  you  of  the  effect 
upon  Enid  Grey's  resolute  and  heroic  mind  of  the  doleful 
report  brought  up  from  the  Capital  by  John  Koppinger,  who, 
as  we  have  seen,  missed  no  opportunity  to  serve  her.  If  she 
had  guessed  the  reason  for  his  attentions,  it  is  quite  likely  Kop- 
pinger himself  did  not  know  it,  and  that  he  was  trusting  to 
fate  in  the  hope  that  ultimately  his  purpose  would  be  revealed 
to  her  and  would  be  understood. 

Here,  then,  was  a  strange  field  of  endeavor  for  Enid  Grey. 
Not  until  she  met  Senator  Twain  and  their  interest  in  each 
other  became  mutually  important,  had  she  known  anything  of 
dubious  politics,  nor  of  the  insistence  of  certain  lines  of  indus- 
try upon  favoring  legislation,  nor  of  the  necessities  of  am- 
bitious reformers.  Until  now  the  circle  of  her  friends  and 
acquaintances  had  extended  but  little  beyond  those  excellent 
persons  whose  minds,  like  her  own,  were  absorbed  in  esthetical 
pursuits  and  pleasures.  She  knew  the  poets  and  philosophers 
from  the  books  in  her  father's  library,  and  the  painters  and 
sculptors  by  their  works  in  the  galleries  of  Europe,  where  she 
had  traveled  and  studied  with  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  beau- 
tiful. She  spoke  the  modern  languages  with  precision  and 
ease — an  exceptional  equipment  that  well  fitted  her  for  the 
linguistic  demands  of  a  cosmopolitan  life  in  Washington. 


130  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Their  first  meeting  was  at  a  dinner  of  state  given  at  the 
White  House,  less  than  a  year  ago,  and  what  took  place  on 
that  occasion  is  worth  the  telling.  There  were  gathered  at 
this  function  a  considerable  number  of  the  most  influential  and 
distinguished  persons  of  official  Washington  —  brilliant  and 
beautiful  women,  learned  judges,  diplomats  and  legislators. 
The  young  senator  was  easily  the  center  of  attraction.  Pol- 
ished in  manner,  with  a  face  that  beamed  intellectuality  from 
its  superfine  lineaments,  and  a  voice  and  vocabulary  that  com- 
manded attention,  serving  to  divert  the  flow  of  small  talk  that 
predominates  at  such  gatherings,  next  to  the  President  himself 
Twain  was  the  most  prominent  personage  in  this  assemblage  of 
accomplished  ladies  and  notable  gentlemen. 

He  had  observed  her  presence  at  the  very  moment  that  he 
came  into  the  reception  room.  Surely,  his  eyes  would  have  been 
in  eclipse  had  he  overlooked  one  of  such  surpassing  qualities. 
When  the  guests  were  seated  at  the  great  oval  table,  being  at 
the  side  of  a  cabinet  member's  wife,  Twain  asked  her  who  the 
young  lady  was. 

"All  senators  read  "The  Morning  Record,"  and  most  of  them 
know  and  admire  its  editor,"  said  he,  "but  I  must  have  been 
greatly  preoccupied  these  five  years  not  to  have  known  before 
something  of  his  charming  daughter." 

"Miss  Grey  has  been  abroad  during  most  of  that  time,  sena- 
tor." 

"Ah!  That  being  the  case  I  shall  not  accuse  myself  fur- 
ther. Had  she  been  here  I  would  deserve  to  be  classed  as  a 
misanthrope." 

"With  her  permission,  senator — " 

"I  shall  be  greatly  indebted  to  you,  madam,  for  your  kind- 
ness." 

It  may  well  be  imagined  that  this  opportunity  to  be  presented 


A     HEROIC     WOMAN  131 

to  her,  after  the  guests  had  assembled  in  the  blue  room,  was 
not  overlooked. 

Nor  did  the  little  group  of  dowagers,  as  they  leveled  their 
lorgnettes  in  the  direction  of  the  absorbed  couple,  fail  to 
animadvert  upon  the  more  than  passing  interest  that  Senator 
Twain  was  taking  in  his  new  acquaintance. 

"Isn't  she  beautiful? — and  he  so  handsome  and  distin- 
guished," exclaimed  the  first  dowager. 

"What  a  match  it  would  be !"  suggested  the  second. 

"Oh,  but  haven't  you  heard?"  asked  a  third. 

"Indeed,  no;  do  tell  us,  dear.  Is  she  engaged?  I'm  almost 
sorry.  To  whom?"  inquired  the  youngest,  who  was  just  out 
of  her  first  habiliments  of  sorrow  and  was  now  beginning  to  in- 
dulge in  searching  scrutiny  of  eligible  men. 

"They  say  that  Captain  Mikleskoff — " 

"Impossible !  Why,  he's  quite  in  the  throes  of  bankruptcy," 
exclaimed  the  first  dowager,  whose  burial  of  two  wealthy  hus- 
bands gave  her  views  great  weight. 

"Senator  Twain  has  no  money,  you  know,"  said  the  second. 

"But  his  position,  my  dear." 

"And  Miss  Grey  is  said  to  be  wealthy,"  remarked  the  third 
exhibit. 

"Oh,  the  young  Russian  was  the  first  to  discover  that  fact ! 
This  should  entitle  him  to  special  consideration,  of  course, 
dear." 

And  many  similar  speculations  and  exclamations  from  the 
delightful  collection  of  monitors  that  shape  the  destinies  of 
Capital  society. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  brilliant  and  inspiring  scene  that 
the  son  of  Venus  first  whispered  his  paramount  message  into 
the  willing  ears  of  Enid  Grey  and  Cornelius  Twain.  Hence- 
forth, for  a  time  at  least,  Cupid  would  lead  them  through 
blossoming  fields  into  realms  of  hope  and  happiness. 


132  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Then,  alas !  by  some  mysterious  power  of  demoniacal  intent, 
the  god  of  love  would  be  superseded  in  his  tender  offices  and 
they  engulfed  in  an  abyss  of  woe  and  pain.  Yet,  while  the 
spark  of  life  continued  to  glow,  their  hearts  would  not  cease  to 
yearn,  nor  Cupid  to  fan  the  flame  of  their  undying  affection. 

Now,  if  this  narrative  were  dependent  upon  the  musty  files 
of  the  local  newspapers  for  the  least  bit  of  the  material  out  of 
which  it  is  being  constructed,  it  would  suffice  to  say  that  a 
great  crowd  of  enthusiastic  citizens  gathered  at  the  auditorium 
on  a  memorable  evening  not  long  after  Miss  Grey  and  her 

father  arrived  at  M ;  that  Mayor  Alton  presided  at  the 

meeting,  and  that  the  speeches  that  were  made  served  to  tinge 
the  political  horizon  with  some  strange  hues.  But  a  statement 
of  these  facts  alone  would  fall  far  short  of  accounting  for  all 
that  really  happened;  for,  even  while  the  distinguished  editor 
and  his  heroic  daughter  were  speeding  toward  the  west, 
preparations  of  an  unusual  nature  were  in  progress  for  their 
reception. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Grey  had 
long  been  familiar  with  the  game  of  politics;  had  studied  it 
from  close  range  for  more  than  a  score  of  years.  Many  a  man, 
aspiring  to  be  a  statesman,  had  shown  the  editor  his  "hand" 
and  asked  him  confidentially  what  he  thought  it  was  worth; 
and  rarely  had  the  great  editor  made  a  mistake  in  his  estimate 
of  its  real  value.  He  knew  intuitively,  therefore,  that  when 

they  arrived  at  M it  would  be  unwise  to  "put  the  pipes 

agoing,"  as  is  said  in  the  figurative  speech  of  the  Scotch;  that 
is,  it  were  best  not  to  rush  immediately  into  print  with  a  de- 
fense of  the  absent  senator's  character;  for  that  would  only 
arouse  resentment  and  precipitate  an  editorial  dispute  in  rival 
local  newspapers.  He  knew  also  that  public  opinion  is  seldom 
if  ever  the  original  product  of  the  masses ;  that,  no  matter  what 
the  "common  people"  may  think  on  their  own  account  in  re- 


A     HEROIC     WOMAN  133 

gard  to  any  important  question,  there  are  many  ways  by  which 
the  trend  of  their  thoughts  may  be  diverted,  too  often,  unfor- 
tunately, in  wrong  directions.  Himself  a  moulder  of  public 
opinion,  Grey  knew,  also,  the  secret  of  preparing  the  minds  of 
the  people  to  accept  the  truth.  He  was  aware  of  the  danger, 
should  the  public  "get  off  on  the  wrong  foot,"  and  of  the  dif- 
ficulty of  getting  it  back  in  step  again. 

And  so,  if  factional  division  and  discord  were  to  be  avoided, 
it  would  be  well  to  first  enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  real 
moulders  of  local  sentiment : — that  is,  the  mothers,  wives  and 
sisters,  who,  in  the  aggregate,  and  in  their  own  way,  generally 
exert  the  greatest  influence  in  any  community. 

Having  thought  out  all  these  details  on  the  way  to  M , 

he  had  sent  Mayor  Alton  a  telegram  suggesting  a  plan  of  pro- 
cedure. But  to  put  Grey's  suggestions  into  successful  opera- 
tion without  engendering  local  friction  would  require  most 
uncommon  tact  on  the  part  of  the  mayor;  for  already  one  of 
the  editors  at  M ,  who  was  afflicted  with  a  jaundiced  tem- 
perament, and  who  had  opposed  Alton's  election  a  few  months 
ago,  was  now  advancing  reasons  in  his  paper  why  a  city  official 
should  "hold  himself  aloof  from  state  politics;"  why  "the 
people,"  whose  true  interests,  of  course,  the  bilious  local  editor 
was  deeply  concerned  about,  except  in  the  matter  of  monopolis- 
tic printing,  were  "opposed  to  bosses,"  and  so  forth  and  so  on. 
Yet,  Alton,  being  a  man  of  peace  as  well  as  sagacity,  would 
doubtless  effect  desired  results  without  transgressing  the  code 
of  morals  set  up  by  the  editor  for  the  rest  of  the  community  to 
follow.  And  he  did,  with  the  assistance  of  his  saintly  mother 
and  his  loving  wife. 

The  Altons  were  at  the  station  with  a  carriage  to  meet  the 
visitors  when  they  arrived.  Although  they  were  strangers,  in 
some  seemingly  inexplicable  way  that  only  psychologists  can 
fathom  the  editor  and  the  mayor  recognized  each  other  quite 


134  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

readily,  and  shook  hands  as  if  they  had  been  chums  from  boy- 
hood. And  Mrs.  Alton,  some  veracious  persons  have  since 
averred,  would  have  kissed  Enid  Grey  then  and  there  but  for 
the  fact  that  the  good  lady  was  quite  short  of  stature  and  Miss 
Grey  quite  tall. 

When  they  reached  the  Alton  home — a  large  frame  structure 
in  the  center  of  a  spacious  square  of  ground  studded  with 
stately  elms  and  emulous  box  elders — a  group  of  bright-eyed 
children,  very  curious  about  "the  strangers  from  Washington 
where  the  President  lives,"  anxiously  awaited  them.  Midmost 
amongst  them — indeed,  they  were  clinging  lovingly  to  her 
skirts  and  apron  strings — was  a  beautiful  woman  with  wavy 
snow-white  hair.  A  woman?  Angel  would  be  more  appro- 
priate. She  was  fair  of  skin,  and  her  face  beamed  with  ser- 
aphic sweetness.  It  was  her  face,  indeed,  among  many  other 
graces,  that  made  Grandmother  Alton  famous  for  miles  and 
miles  around.  Everyone  loved  her,  and  her  presence  was  like 
a  benediction. 

Soon  Grey  was  vainly  trying  to  accommodate  all  the  children 
at  once  on  his  short  lap,  and  they  were  asking  him  many  ques- 
tions about  "the  great  Capital." 

"Zat's  where  Uncle  Sam  lives?"  inquired  Paul,  the  five-year- 
old,  who  was  already  noted  for  his  proficiency  in  imitating 
the  local  caricaturist. 

"Your  Uncle  Sam  in  symbol,  my  boy,"  the  editor  answered. 

Paul  did  not  comprehend  his  meaning,  but  Thomas  Alton, 
junior,  several  years  Paul's  senior,  and  an  unconscionable  icono- 
clast, made  it  quite  plain  with  this  unsentimental  remark : 

"Oh,  I  guess  there  ain't  any  Uncle  Sam;  he's  like  Santa 
Claus,  maybe !"  Whereat  Grey  was  moved  to  exclaim : 

"How  these  western  boys  do  progress  !" 

"The  west  is  the  seat  of  Progressivism,  Mr.  Grey,"  replied 
Alton  with  a  laugh. 


A     HEROIC     WOMAN  135 

During  the  past  two  days  Grandmother  Alton,  who  was  not 
a  minute  older  than  she  felt,  being  the  director  of  social 
amenities  at  the  Alton  household,  had  called  at  the  homes  of 
numerous  leading  citizens;  which  accounts  for  the  reception 
room  being  none  too  large  to  accommodate  the  many  good  citi- 
zens who  came  to  pay  their  respects  that  evening.  It  was  here 
that  Enid  Grey  was  taken  to  the  very  bosom  of  substantial 
society  at  M ,  and  that  she  and  her  father  won  the  admira- 
tion and  sympathy  of  a  wide  circle  of  intelligent  citizens, 
against  whose  opinions,  now  firmly  fixed,  the  "reform"  editor 
of  printing  contract  fame  would  hesitate  to  take  issue. 

"We  thought  you  would  be  glad  to  meet  our  neighbors,"  re- 
marked Mrs.  Alton  to  Miss  Grey,  as  she  busied  herself  mak- 
ing the  ladies  comfortable. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  about  the  absolute  sincerity  of 
these  excellent  men  and  women.  There  is  a  marked  absence  of 
reserve  among  western  folk  that  is  in  distinct  contrast  with  the 
air  of  exclusiveness  that  seems  to  have  settled  about  the  daily 
life  of  the  older  and  more  wealthy  communities  of  the  east. 
It  was  in  this  sympathetic  atmosphere  that  Enid  Grey  opened 
her  heart  to  Mrs.  Alton's  neighbors.  She  told  them  frankly 
of  her  love  for  Senator  Twain,  and  of  the  terrible  consequences 
to  her  of  his  misfortunes.  Most  of  them  had  been  moved  to 
tears  before  she  was  half  through  with  the  sorrowful  story. 

Then  Grandmother  Alton  spoke,  in  gentle  and  encouraging 
tones,  her  benignant  countenance  all  aglow  with  hopefulness : 

"It  is  God's  way,  my  child.  Be  not  cast  down.  His  wis- 
dom and  love  are  far  more  powerful  and  mysterious  than  the 
combined  wickedness  of  all  mankind." 

By  this  time  the  gentlemen,  having  considered  the  practical 
phases  of  the  situation,  came  from  the  smoking  room  to  join 
the  ladies  in  the  parlor.  They  had  decided  upon  a  plan  of 


136  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

action,  Mayor  Alton  having  been  chosen  to  explain  the  course 
it  was  thought  best  to  pursue. 

"Your  father  has  told  us,  Miss  Grey,  that  you  have  positive 
knowledge  of  Senator  Twain's  attitude  in  regard  to  the  Pur- 
chase bill.  This  knowledge,  of  course,  is  very  precious  to  you. 
We  appreciate  its  sacred  character." 

"But  his  reputation,  Mr.  Alton,  is  even  more  sacred,"  she 
replied. 

"There  is  nothing  in  this  world  more  precious  to  all  his 
friends,  my  dear  girl.  His  good  name  must  be  protected,  his 
integrity  vindicated  against  slanderous  assault.  It  is  our  pur- 
pose to  do  it,  if  you  will  assist  us,  or  if  you  will  indicate  how 
we  may  assist  you." 

"The  proof  is  here,"  she  exclaimed  in  tremulous  accents,  as 
she  drew  from  the  mysterious  folds  of  her  raiment  a  tear- 
stained  envelope.  "You  may  read  it  to  our  friends,  for  it  is 
no  longer  mine  alone ;  it  belongs  now  to  a  misguided  public." 

Her  smothered  sobs  and  streaming  tears  but  added  to  the 
dramatic  climax.  By  this  time  Grandmother  Alton  came  to 
console  her,  leading  her  tenderly  to  a  secluded  corner  in  an 
adjacent  room. 

"An  anxious  note  in  your  dear  letter  which  came  this  morn- 
ing prompts  me  to  reply  before  I  sleep,"  wrote  Twain  from 
the  Charles  street  house  in  Boston  only  a  few  days  before  his 
disappearance.  "Be  not  alarmed,  beloved  one,  about  the  fate 
of  the  Purchase  bill.  On  my  arrival  here  last  night  I  found 
my  good  aunt  greatly  improved.  She  declares  that  she  will 
soon  be  well  again  if  she  can  have  me  near  her  for  a  few  days 
more.  So,  when  I  have  been  permitted  to  be  away  from  her 
bedside,  I  have  devoted  the  time  in  drafting  a  substitute  for 
the  pending  measure  and  thinking  out  a  speech  I  expect  to 
make  in  favor  of  it — here,  in  the  quiet  of  Boston  Common, 
away  from  the  Senate's  turmoil.  I  have  every  confidence  that 


A     HEROIC     WOMAN  137 

it  will  meet  with  the  approval  of  my  colleagues,  as  the  bill 
now  under  consideration  has  many  objectionable  features. 
Still,  it  is  based  upon  sound  principles,  and  these  principles 
must  ultimately  prevail,  for  they  are  just  and  proper. 

"This  is  more  than  I  have  said  to  anyone  else,  for  reasons 
that  not  even  the  most  precious  woman  I  know  would  be  able 
to  fully  comprehend;  yet  I  withhold  no  secrets  from  her. 

"But  for  your  apprehensions  I  would  not  trouble  you  with 
sordid  politics,  while  there  is  so  much  in  my  heart  I  would  have 
you  feel  as  I  feel  it.  Nor  would  I  care  ever  to  return  to  my 
public  duties  but  for  your  sweet  assurances  of  requital  in  that 
which  thrills  my  mortal  part  with  happiness  and  exalts  my 
soul  with  a  hope  it  never  knew  before. 

"To  be  near  you  soon  again,  to  read  the  meaning  in  the 
depths  of  your  eyes,  to  breathe  the  sanctified  atmosphere  of 
your  presence  and  hear  your  pleasing  voice — ah!  to  me,  one 
moment  of  such  a  privilege  were  worth  all  else  on  earth." 

Long  before  the  doors  of  the  great  auditorium  had  been 
opened  to  admit  the  surging  crowd  that  gathered  to  greet  the 
visitors,  the  contents  of  the  precious  missive  had  become  known 

to  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  M ;  for  it  is  doubtful  if 

anyone  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  in  the  parlor  of  the 
Alton  home  when  the  mayor  read  the  Twain  love  letter  went 
away  unimpressed ;  nor  did  they  ever  forget  the  burning  words 
it  contained,  nor  neglect  to  give  them  wide-spread  circulation 
the  following  day,  expressing  their  entire  approval  of  Miss 
Grey  and  enlarging  upon  her  wonderful  beauty  and  her  sub- 
lime devotion. 

It  seemed  as  if  all  the  notable  people  in  the  state  had  come 

to  M to  attend  this  remarkable  meeting,  and  that  most  of 

them  tried  to  find  seats  on  the  auditorium  stage.  Grandmother 
Alton  was  there,  well  to  the  front,  and  a  great  bunch  of  Ameri- 


138  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

can  beauty  roses  adorned  the  little  table  near  the  footlights, 
furnishing  a  rare  picture,  indeed. 

The  mayor  presided,  and  when  he  rapped  for  order  someone 
in  the  great  audience  rose  and  said,  sarcastically,  that  if  such  a 
thing  were  not  out  of  place  at  a  politcal  gathering,  "it  might 
be  well  to  open  the  proceedings  with  prayer !"  This  touch  of 
seriousness  put  the  audience  in  a  sober  frame  of  mind,  and  the 
prayer  that  followed  must  have  entered  their  souls,  for  it  was 
an  invocation  such  as  had  seldom  been  heard  since  those  early 
days  of  the  Republic  when  the  hand  of  Providence,  instead  of 
the  power  of  money,  was  recognized  as  the  great  contributing 
factor  in  all  undertakings. 

And  the  speeches,  also.  All  the  local  orators  and  not  a  few 
of  the  visiting  statesmen  were  called  upon  for  remarks.  It  was 
a  nonpartisan  gathering,  too.  And  what  could  the  speakers 
say? — with  the  perfume  of  the  roses  in  their  nostrils,  and 
Grandmother  Alton,  she  of  the  billowy  snow-white  hair  and 
seraphic  visage,  on  the  platform — what,  indeed,  could  they 
say  that  was  not  eulogistic  of  the  absent  senator  and  compli- 
mentary to  the  woman  who  had  lost  her  heart  to  him? 

It  was  a  rare  experience  for  the  people  of  M . 

The  climax  of  human  emotion  and  sensation  was  reached 
when  the  mayor,  with  deep  feeling  and  in  a  choice  selection  of 
words — for  he  possessed  the  dramaturgic  faculty,  and  his  heart 
was  enlisted  in  the  effort — when  he  told  of  the  love  letter  which 
he  had  been  privileged  to  see,  and  of  the  purport  of  its  con- 
vincing contents.     But  this  did  not  suffice  to  quell  the  commo- 
tion nor  stay  the  enthusiasm. 
"The  girl !  the  girl !" 
"Fetch  her  out !" 
"We  must  see  her !" 

These  and  like  exclamations  came  from  every  part  of  the  hall. 
Nothing  less  would  appease  the  excited  assemblage. 


A     HEROIC     WOMAN  139 

Grandmother  Alton  herself  brought  Miss  Grey  from  her  se- 
clusion in  the  dressing  room  and  stood  beside  her  on  the  plat- 
form. It  was  enough. 

The  great  throng  rose  with  a  mighty  shout,  and  went  into  a 
fury  of  excitement.  It  was  then,  indeed,  that  every  one  in  the 
big  hall  felt  and  knew  that  the  good  name  of  Cornelius  Twain 
had  been  rescued  from  calumny. 

Men — there  were  few  exceptions — climbed  upon  the  seats, 
and  the  very  walls  of  the  building  seemed  to  bend  and  crack 
with  their  thunderous  applause.  Women  waved  their  handker- 
chiefs; some  of  them  tore  the  white  scarfs  from  about  their 
fair  necks  and  shoulders  to  waft  them  aloft  again  and  again. 
The  disturbing  factional  storm  had  passed ;  so  also  the  ominous 
calm  that  follows.  The  sweeping  tornado  of  emotion  that 
sometimes  moves  a  people  in  a  great  and  just  cause  was  now 
arrived. 

A  change  in  sentiment  was  noticeable  on  every  side  the  fol- 
lowing morning.  Where,  only  a  few  hours  before,  all  had  been 
bitterness  and  strife,  and  reputations,  even  of  women,  were  be- 
ing assailed,  now  a  more  generous  feeling  of  respect  and  toler- 
ance, not  only  for  all  womankind,  but  for  men  as  well,  was 
manifest  among  every  class  of  society. 

Was  it  the  love  letter  which  every  one  had  heard  about,  or 
was  it  the  very  presence  of  the  fair,  graceful  Enid  Grey,  that 
wrought  the  remarkable  transformation?  No  doubt  it  was 
both.  Either  would  have  sufficed,  for  even  to  this  day  the  ex- 
pressions of  admiration  evoked  by  her  beauty  and  character  are 
treasured  among  the  proud  traditions  of  M . 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A  RELATION  OF  TWAIN'S 

This  was  a  novel  and  yet  a  trying  experience  for  Enid  Grey. 
Still,  before  she  arrived  at  Ashhurst  again  she  was  destined  to 
meet,  somewhat  abruptly,  too,  with  another  one  equally  new  to 
her.  It  came  about  in  consequence  of  one  of  those  harrowing 
occurrences  we  read  about  almost  daily,  whenever  two  railway 
trains  attempt  to  pass  each  other  on  the  same  track — a  head-on 
collision  in  which  engineers  and  firemen  are  suddenly  ground 
to  quivering  pulp,  or  slowly  burned  to  death  in  the  wreck  of 
two  monster  locomotives,  and  others  of  the  train  crews  are 
either  killed  outright  or  maimed  for  the  rest  of  their  lifetime. 
Fortunate,  indeed,  are  the  numerous  passengers,  particularly 
those  of  the  underworld  who  are  obliged  to  travel  in  the  for- 
ward coaches,  if  they  escape  mutilation,  being  spared  to  shud- 
der always  when  they  recall  the  shocking  catastrophe  and  think 
of  the  barbarous  methods  of  management  that  brought  it 
about ;  the  heedless  and  heartless  race  for  dividends  at  the  in- 
evitable expense  of  innocent  human  beings. 

So  that  Enid  and  her  father,  when  they  had  crawled  unin- 
jured through  the  window  of  their  apartment  in  the  over- 
turned sleeper  and  heard  the  agonized  cries  for  help,  hastened 
along  the  track  of  twisted  rails  to  the  seething  mass  of  iron  and 
steel  and  the  burning  coaches  ahead,  intent  upon  aiding  their 
less  fortunate  fellow  creatures.  To  their  great  surprise  they 


A     RELATION     OF     TWAIN'S  141 

met  Chief  Bostwick,  who  was  coming  from  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. Several  others  were  also  hastening  to  the  rescue.  Soon 
there  were  gathered  about  the  scene  all  the  passengers  of  the 
two  dismantled  trains  who  had  escaped  injury,  and  they  were 
working,  vainly  enough,  to  relieve  the  sufferers. 

After  hours  of  effort,  the  fire  having  burned  the  wreck  to 
cinders,  cremating  a  score  or  more  of  victims,  the  tired,  be- 
grimed and  half-clad  workers  withdrew  to  save  their  own  be- 
longings in  the  stranded  coaches  that  had  escaped  the  devouring 
flames.  Afterward  they  assembled  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  on 
the  hillside,  there  to  await  the  coming  of  a  special  which  would 
give  them  a  fresh  start  toward  their  respective  destinations, 
where,  on  the  morrow,  they  would  read  of  "a  railroad  accident 
in  which  several  lives  are  supposed  to  have  been  lost,  but  owing 
to  the  destruction  of  the  wreck  by  fire  the  casualties  could  not 
be  ascertained.  The  railway  company  soon  cleared  the  debris 
from  the  track,"  the  news  report  will  go  on  to  say  so  as  to  assure 
the  public  that  it  wasn't  much  of  an  accident  anyway,  "and 
traffic  was  resumed  without  serious  interruption.  The  cause  of 
the  accident  is  unknown."  So  there  would  be  no  suspension  of 
dividends ! 

At  a  station  twenty  miles  away  the  passengers  on  the  special 
were  set  down  until  the  regular  trains  came  along.  Meanwhile 
Enid,  her  father  and  Chief  Bostwick  repaired  with  others  to  a 
small  eating  house  for  refreshments.  Here,  remarkable  though 
it  may  appear  to  be,  they  were  seated  at  the  same  table  with 
Andy  Akers  and  Eva  Farnum.  Bostwick  knew  them  of  course. 
He  also  knew  that  they  were  on  the  west-bound  St.  Louis 
express  before  the  collision,  and  his  feelings  concerning  them 
had  now  undergone  a  decided  change  on  account  of  the  humane 
exertions  they  made  at  the  burning  wreck.  He  hesitated  about 
presenting  them,  although  he  was  aware  that  accidents  some- 
times make  strange  acquaintances.  Still,  fearing  that  Andy 


142  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

and  Eva  might  suspect  his  motive  if  he  did  not  do  so,  he  intro- 
duced them  in  a  most  informal  manner. 

"Mr.  Grey,  this  is  Mr.  Akers,"  said  he. 

"My  daughter,  Mr  Akers,"  added  Grey. 

"My  wife,"  responded  Akers. 

Then  they  fell  to  discussing  the  horrors  of  the  accident,  and 
after  the  meal  Enid  and  Mrs.  Farnum  went  to  the  ladies'  wait- 
ing room,  a  rather  uninviting  place,  it  is  true,  but  there  was  a 
vacant  seat  near  the  open  window  through  which  a  cool  breeze 
was  blowing,  and  they  sat  down.  Andy,  who  always  avoided 
company,  if  possible,  strolled  away  alone,  whereat  the  Chief 
felt  relieved. 

Mrs.  Farnum  lost  no  time  in  telling  Enid  that  she  knew  her 
quite  well  by  sight,  and  that  she  had  been  much  attracted  by 
her  musical  voice  as  she  had  heard  it  in  the  Washington  shops. 
The  conversation  was  running  on  quite  pleasantly  when  Eva, 
moved  by  some  sudden  impulse  that  she  herself  might  not  have 
been  able  to  fathom  had  she  been  put  to  it,  remarked  casually : 

"I  also  know  Senator  Twain." 

Before  Enid  had  recovered  from  her  surprise  at  the  an- 
nouncement, Mrs.  Farnum  added : 

"We  are  related — half  first  cousins." 

But  there  was  something  in  the  woman's  manner,  a  hesitancy 
in  her  speech,  a  downcasting  of  the  eyes,  perhaps,  that  seemed 
to  put  Enid  on  her  guard.  Still,  having  heard  this  much,  and, 
surmising  that  Mrs.  Akers  would  not  have  mentioned  the 
matter  at  all  had  not  she  known  in  some  way  of  the  tender 
relations  existing  between  the  absent  senator  and  herself,  Enid 
realized  the  necessity  of  a  reply.  Besides,  being  constantly 
alert  in  the  hope  of  learning  something  which  might  lead  to  a 
solution  of  the  depressing  mystery,  she  was  impelled  to  question 
her  new  acquaintance. 


A     RELATION     OF     TWAIN'S  143 

"How  strange  that  we  should  have  met  under  such  circum- 
stances." 

"Quite  so,"  replied  Mrs.  Akers.  "I  sympathize  with  you 
deeply.  There  is  not  an  hour  that  I  do  not  think  of  your  situa- 
tion and  pity  you,  and  Ihave  been  greatly  tempted  to  make  my- 
self known  so  that  I  might  tell  you — a  very  great  secret.  You 
will  not  betray  me,  I  am  sure,  for  it  concerns  my  husband." 

"Do  not  give  me  your  confidence,  Mrs.  Akers,  I  beg  of  you, 
if » 

"My  woman's  heart  prompts  me  that  it  is  my  duty.  Besides, 
I  feel  the  facts  must  come  out,  and  that  you  should  know  be- 
forehand." 

Then  Eva  Farnum  told  Enid  Grey  all  she  knew  about  It, 
adding  that  she  did  not  believe  her  husband  was  guilty  of  the 
crime  that  must  sooner  or  later  be  charged  against  him. 

"He  has  some  hidden  motive  in  permitting  me  to  feel  that 
he  had  a  hand  in  it,  but  I  do  not  believe  him.  If  I  did  I  should 
leave  him  and  then  expose  him  to  the  world,  for  Cousin  Cor- 
nelius has  been  kind  to  me — and  to  my  mother.  Yet,  I  will  not 
burden  you  with  the  details.  All  that  I  will  say  further  is  that, 
should  anything  occur  which  might  make  me  serviceable  to  you 
and  to  Senator  Twain,  you  may  rely  upon  me " 

At  this  point  Grey  came  into  the  waiting  room  to  say  the  east- 
bound  express  was  pulling  into  the  station. 

"Not  a  word  to  anyone;  I  am  your  friend,"  whispered  Eva 
as  she  and  Enid  walked  out  upon  the  platform. 

When  the  west-bound  limited  came  along  an  hour  later  Andy 
and  Eva,  accompanied  by  Dick  Bostwick,  renewed  their  journey 
to  St.  Louis. 

Whoever  had  been  watching  closely  would  have  discovered 
that  the  winged  goddess  of  allotment,  the  daughter  of  Erebus 
and  his  erring  sister  Nox,  had  been  hovering  near  Mr.  Fox's 
offices  for  several  days  back;  yet  the  railroad  lawyer  was  not 


144  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

aware  that  Nemesis  was  present.  Nor  was  he  expecting  Eva 
Farnum,  a  wingless  daughter  of  pleasure  and  vanity,  comely  of 
feature  and  form,  who  had  just  arrived  from  the  Capital.  Mrs. 
Farnum  suspected  that  Mr.  Fox  would  be  surprised  to  see  her ; 
but  of  one  thing  she  was  quite  certain:  he  would  not  refuse  to 
admit  her  to  his  sumptuous  apartments,  even  during  business 
hours,  and  she  was  quite  as  certain  he  would  have  her  remain 
for  a  time  afterward. 

"Delighted!"  he  exclaimed,  when  she  had  succeeded  in  get- 
ting her  card  through  the  hands  of  the  retinue  of  doorkeepers 
and  messengers,  and  was  arrived  at  his  desk.  "Be  seated.  How 
beautiful  you  are,  Eva!  Allow  me  to  assist  you." 

The  room  was  warm  and  she  unbuttoned  her  jacket,  asking 
if  she  might  take  it  off.  She  knew  now  that  she  was  welcome. 
Had  it  been  otherwise,  instead  of  saying  he  was  delighted  and 
remarking  upon  her  beauty,  he  would  have  asked,  "What  can  I 
do  for  you?"  and  looked  coldly  upon  her.  She  knew  Fox!  His 
attitude  toward  her  made  a  deal  of  difference  in  regard  to  the 
manner  in  which  she  would  approach  the  subject  in  hand.  He 
being  so  affable,  she  would  not  waste  time  on  the  niceties  of 
language,  nor  dally  with  diplomatic  terms,  but  would  come  to 
the  point  with  such  directness  that  even  Fox  must  be  pleased 
with  her  for  her  knowledge  of  the  art  of  expedition. 

"I  have  brought  them  with  me,"  she  said,  after  thanking  him 
for  assisting  her. 

"Them?    Whom  do  you  mean,  Eva?" 

"The  ones  that  did  the  work — or  overdid  it,  to  be  more 
exact." 

"I  do  not  catch  your  meaning,"  he  replied  scrutinizing  her 
face  closely. 

"Giddings  and  Akers." 

"Giddings  and  Akers?  I've  heard  of  Giddings.  Oh,  yes,  I 
know  a  man  of  that  name,  but  not  the  other  one." 


A     RELATION     OF     TWAIN'S  145 

Neither  did  he  know  that  Eva  was  again  married,  and  she 
did  not  tell  him. 

"Then,  ask  them  to  come  in;  they're  outside,"  said  she. 

"But  first  tell  me  what  the  business  is." 

"You  are  too  utterly  dense,  Eph,"  she  replied,  impatiently. 
"You've  been  drinking  champagne  again." 

"I  have  not  tasted  a  drop  within  a  month,  Eva." 

"But  you've  had  business  with  Giddings  in  that  time?" 

He  looked  at  the  ceiling;  his  brows  contracted.  Then  he 
answered;  "Not  in  a  year — that  is,  not  directly.  Are  you  sure 
you've  not  been  drinking,  Eva?  You  don't  look  it." 

"I  would  like  a  cold  bottle  this  minute,"  she  replied  with  a 
laugh. 

Fox  touched  a  button.  Then  they  went  into  an  adjoining 
room,  a  luxurious  place,  with  rich  oriental  rugs  on  the  floors 
and  costly  paintings  and  hangings  on  the  walls. 

"This  is  a  recent  importation,  a  special  vintage,  sent  me  by 
a  friend  who  has  a  wonderful  vineyard  in  fipernay.  It  is  dry — 
too  dry  for  you,  I  fear.  See  how  it  sparkles — like  your  wit, 
Eva.  I  drink  to  your  lovely  blue  eyes ;  may  they  never  fade." 

"From  your  memory,  Eph?  That's  what  you  used  to  say.  I 
married  poor  Farnum  because  you  asked  me  to  do  so,  and  you 
knew  that  I  loved  you." 

"Ah,  yes !    That  was  years  ago." 

"When  you  were  more  gallant  than  now,  Eph." 

"Pardon  me,  Eva;  you  are  not  a  day  older." 

"We  are  forgetting  about  Giddings,"  she  suggested. 

"Do  you  like  the  wine?  Let  me  fill  your  glass.  I  have 
drunk  two  to  your  one,  and  am  thirsting  like  a  sultry  glebe." 

"How  remarkable !  I  remember  when  it  would  have  been 
four  to  my  one." 

"I  will  have  them  sent  away — a  message  from  you.  Say 
you'll  see  them  tomorrow.  Then  I  will  order  dinner,  just  you 


146  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

and  me.    We'll  have  a  good  old-time  visit.    But,  Eva,  you  seem 
to  be  depressed.     Drink  your  wine.     I'll  be  back  right  away." 

Acting  upon  the  thought  of  disposing  of  Giddings  and  Akers, 
Fox  excused  himself,  and  going  into  his  office  he  called  his 
secretary. 

"There  are  two  men  outside.  Say  to  them,  with  Mrs. 
Farnum's  compliments,  that  she  will  see  them  tomorrow  morn- 
ing at  her  hotel,  1 1  o'clock.  And  take  this  message :  'Come 
on  first  train  without  fail.'  Put  it  in  cipher;  sign  my  cipher 
name,  and  send  it  to  Sam  Ives." 

"They  will  think  it  strange  that  I  did  not  see  them  in  per- 
son," she  said,  when  Fox  returned  to  the  room.  But  she  had 
emptied  her  glass,  and  her  depression  was  now  at  the  vanishing 
point. 

"Yet,  they  will  not  object,"  replied  Fox,  leaning  over  and 
kissing  her,  "because  the  message  is  from  the  sweetest  woman  in 
the  world.  They  will  be  only  too  glad  to  serve  you." 

Fox  was  at  his  office  at  an  unusually  early  hour  the  next 
morning.  Indeed,  he  did  not  quit  the  C.  Q.  D.  building  after 
Eva  arrived.  He  was  anxious  to  see  Sam  Ives,  and  it  may  be 
that  he  remained  up  all  night  for  that  purpose.  Ives,  as  I  have 
said,  was  a  sub-political  manager.  He  took  orders  from  Fox 
and  lived  in  Senator  Twain's  state,  where  he  contributed  to  the 
comfort  of  the  statesmen  that  broke  into  the  legislature  now 
and  again.  How  legislators  do  prize  railroad  passes !  He  also 
made  life  pleasant  for  other  state  officials,  and  the  C.  Q.  D. 
Company  paid  the  freight. 

"Trouble  is  brewing,"  said  Fox  to  Ives  when  the  latter  ar- 
rived and  they  were  closeted  in  the  adjoining  room. 

"Looks  like  it  had  happened  right  here,"  replied  Ives,  with  a 
sweep  of  his  hand  so  as  to  indicate  the  wreck  of  special  vintage 
bottles. 

"It  did,  or  would  have,  but  she  liked  the  wine,  and  by  the 


A     RELATION     OF     TWAIN'S  147 

time  she  was  ready  to  go  away  she  was  in  a  condition  to  have 
forgotten  all  about  your  two  friends." 

"My  two  friends? — who?" 

"I  do  not  know.  You  will  remember  I  was  not  to  know. 
You  had  the  thing  in  hand;  yet  I'm  afraid  you  overdid  it,  Sam. 
That's  what  Eva  says.  Now,  I  sent  for  you  so  that  you  might 
put  things  in  order  and  get  them  away  from  here — she  and  her 
companion,  whoever  he  may  be." 

"One  is  Giddings,"  said  Ives. 

"So  she  said,  but  I  do  not  want  to  know  about  the  other  one." 

"And  Martha  came  with  her  father." 

"The you  say !"  exclaimed  Fox.  "If  those  two  women 

meet  there'll  be  more  trouble.  Take  hold  of  it,  Sam,  in  your 
best  style.  It  won't  do  for  me  to  leave  the  city  while  they  are 
here,  especially  Eva ;  she'd  say  I  was  afraid  and  ran  away.  I'll 
keep  quiet,  and  it  won't  be  easy  for  anyone  to  get  at  me  until 
the  trouble's  over.  You  understand,  Sam?" 

"I  must  see  you  from  time  to  time,  Eph,  to  report  progress. 
And  Martha? " 

"Bless  her  heart!  Of  course  she  can  come  here,  if  she 
wishes.  Yet,  that  will  never  do.  Eva  will — my  eyes,  Sam! 
how  she  did  put  it  out  of  sight  last  night.  I  doubt  if  she's  able 
to  be  about  much  for  the  next  two  days.  It's  always  so  with 
her.  And  my  own  head  isn't  any  too  clear  today.  That's  why 
I  sent  for  you — to  think  for  me." 

"All  right,  Eph,  I'll  do  the  best  I  can.  Why  did  she  bring 
that  bungling  Akers?  He's  the  one  that  overdid  the  business." 

"I  don't  know  a  thing  about  it,  Sam;  please  do  not  forget 
that  fact." 

"How  about  Martha?  She  may  want  to  see  you.  Her 
father  brought  her  along  for  that  purpose,  I  imagine." 

"Whether  he  did  or  not,  I  want  to  see  her.    If  she's  stopping 


148  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

at  the  Southern  have  her  change  to  the  new  hotel ;  Eva's  at  the 
Southern.  Then  I  can  slip  over — this  evening,  tell  her." 

During  the  next  two  days  Sam  Ives  was  a  busy  man.  He 
had  five  very  important  persons  to  keep  in  touch  with — two  of 
them  women.  One  of  these  was  in  love  with  Eph  Fox,  or  had 
been  not  many  years  ago.  The  other  one — well,  Fox  would  have 
given  his  prospects  in  Heaven,  if  he  had  any,  for  the  love  of 
Martha  Giddings.  Yet,  she  had  told  him  repeatedly  that  she 
did  not  love  him,  and  had  asked  him  to  cease  his  attentions. 
She  did  love  her  father,  however,  and  the  fact  that  he  was 
completely  under  the  thumb  of  Fox,  through  Ives,  accounted 
for  Martha's  presence  at  this  time.  Giddings  had  come  on  a 
telegram  from  Mrs.  Farnum  to  meet  Akers  in  St.  Louis. 

"I'm  afraid  your  man  bungled  it,"  said  Ives  to  Giddings, 
after  leaving  Fox. 

"It  looks  like  it,"  replied  Giddings,  humbly.  "I  told  him 
not  to  make  a  serious  mess  of  it — only  to  get  him  away  from 
the  Senate  for  a  few  hours  until  after  the  vote  was  taken." 

"Don't  give  details,"  said  Ives.  "I  don't  want  to  know  the 
particulars  or  anyone  in  the  deal  except  you.  Remember  that. 
Whoever  he  is,  get  him  away  from  here  and  make  him  quit 
talking.  And  look  out  for  that  Farnum  woman.  Don't  make 
any  more  mistakes,  Bill." 

Then  Giddings  went  to  see  Andy  Akers.  By  this  time  the 
Farnum  had  come  to  herself,  and  was  clinging  to  Andy  more 
affectionately  than  ever,  for  even  the  dullest  of  persons  must 
see  that  by  this  time  Andy  was  become  a  valuable  asset.  After 
much  effort  on  the  part  of  Giddings,  Mrs.  Farnum  was  induced 
to  go  to  Fox's  office,  although,  as  she  declared,  her  head  was 
"greatly  tousled — inside."  At  Fox's  office  she  was  told  the 
railroad  lawyer  was  ill ;  that  he  had  to  go  to  bed,  and  couldn't 
be  seen.  This  she  could  easily  believe. 

"Champagne  will  be  his  ruin,"  she  exclaimed.     But  before 


A     RELATION     OF     TWAIN'S  149 

she  got  back  to  the  Southern  Giddings  had  talked  to  Akers,  and 
the  latter  had  made  a  deep  impression  on  Giddings'  perceptions. 

"You  must  go  back  and  take  her  with  you,"  said  Giddings. 
"Too  bad  you  gave  her  your  confidence."  Nor  did  Giddings 
seem  to  know  of  Andy's  new  relations  to  the  Farnum. 

"Too  bad!"  exclaimed  Akers.  "I  was  to  do  the  best  I  could, 
but  not  to  let  him  go  to  the  Capitol  till  after  the  vote  on  the 
bill.  I  knew  from  the  first  it  wouldn't  be  possible  to  get  him 
away  from  that  Grey  girl  without  taking  him  away.  Now,  I 
also  figured  it  out  that  no  vote  would  be  had  on  the  Purchase 
bill  for  a  month.  So  he  went  where  he  won't  get  back  by  that 
time,  unless  I'm  greatly  mistaken." 

"Don't  give  me  any  particulars,"  replied  Giddings.  "I  don't 
want  to  know  the  details." 

"Of  course  not !  We  were  not  to  know  each  other  after  we 
met  that  night  when  you  got  me  to  agree  to  do  the  job,  and 
here  we  are — you  trying  to  evade  responsibility,  and  I  suppose 
the  fellows  higher  up  are  doing  the  same  thing,  while  poor 
old  Andy  must  carry  the  load."  Then,  after  a  long  pause, 
Akers  went  on:  "Say,  Bill,  suppose  he  comes  back,  won't  he 
make  things  hum !" 

"That's  the  devilish  part  of  it,"  replied  Giddings. 

"Say,  Bill,"  after  another  pause,  "suppose  he  don't  come 
back,  eh?" 

"Who  will  stop  him?" 

"That  wasn't  what  I  asked." 

"What  did  you  ask,  Andy?" 

"I  said,  Say,  Bill " 

"That's  what  you  said." 

"That  wasn't  all." 

"Not  all?" 

"No." 

"It  was  enough." 


150  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"It  won't  be  if  he  comes  back." 

"Well?" 

Akers  lit  a  cigar,  after  handing  one  to  Giddings.  Then  he 
resumed : 

"Say,  Bill.  People  soon  forget  when  people  don't  come 
back,  and  if  they  don't  it's  because  they  do." 

"Andy,  you  are  a  trump,  fit  to  be  at  the  top  in  your  profes- 
sion," said  Giddings,  slapping  Akers  on  the  "back.  "But  here 
comes  the  Farnum;  I'll  see  you  tonight." 

Mrs.  Farnum  announced  that  she  was  going  to  bed ;  that  Mr. 
Fox  could  not  be  seen  until  tomorrow.  So  Giddings  sought 
Sam  Ives,  and  that  was  precisely  what  Akers  wanted  him  to  do. 

"You've  got  to  let  me  give  you  some  important  particulars  of 
recent  events,"  he  said  to  Ives.  "If  I'm  a  good  guesser,  it's  a 
hold  up,  and  a  big  one.  The  Farnum's  in  it.  She's  at  the 
bottom  of  it.  Akers  is  willing  to  be  told  what  to  do,  but  I 
think  it  will  be  costly." 

"It  has  been  costly  already,  Bill,"  replied  Ives.  "How  much 
more  will  be  required?" 

"I  have  no  idea.  It's  only  a  surmise  as  yet.  Akers  says  it 
will  be  dangerous  if  he  returns." 

"Well,  that's  logical,"  Ives  replied. 

"And  that  if  he  doesn't  return  people  will  soon  forget." 

"More  logic,"  added  Ives.  "They  don't  care  much  unless 
they're  stirred  up,  the  people  don't.  Feed  'em  well,  and  they're 
happy." 

"That's  what  he  says." 

"Well?" 

"Well?" 

They  looked  at  each  other  intently;  there  must  have  been 
complete  harmony  in  their  thoughts.  Then  Ives  broke  the 
silence : 

"Get  his  idea  as  to  what  should  be  done." 


A  RELATION  OF  TWAINS  151 

"I've  got  it,"  replied  Giddings. 

"What  is  it?" 

"That  he  must  not  be  allowed  to  come  back !" 

"Monstrous !"  exclaimed  Ives. 

"That's  what  I  think,  too.  But  which  would  be  the  most 
convenient  for  us?  I'm  afraid  he'll  start  something  if  he  re- 
turns." 

"I'll  see  you  later.  Don't  let  that  bungler  get  away,"  Ives 
whispered. 

If  Akers  had  bungled  the  business  in  the  first  instance,  he 
was  now  making  amends  by  handling  the  case  with  skill.  That 
was  evident,  even  to  Ives,  who  had  no  trouble  now  in  reaching 
Fox.  That  gentleman's  head  had  cleared  up  somewhat;  it  was 
perfectly  clear  when  Ives  put  the  question: 

"Do  you  want  Twain  to  come  back?" 

"Who  wants  to  know?" 

"I  do." 

"Who  else?" 

"You  were  not  to  know  anybody  else  in  this  deal  except  me.'r 

"True,  my  boy,  true.     Do  I  want  him  to " 

"That's  it." 

"After  a  long  silence  Fox  asked : 

"Where  is  Martha,  Sam?" 

"At  the  new  hotel." 

"God!     But  I  wish  everybody  was  as  innocent  as  she." 

"It's  a  little  late,"  added  Ives,  impatient  of  Fox's  evasiveness. 

"What's  late?    Who's  late?" 

"Eva,  Andy  and  Giddings  seem  to  be  on  time,  Eph,"  replied 
Ives.  "But  you  haven't  answered  my  question." 

"Fire  and  brimstone,  Sam !  Can't  you  settle  some  things 
yourself?" 

"Yes." 


152  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Then  settle  them !  Here's  the  key.  It  fits  the  upper  right 
hand  box.  The  vault's  open.  I  am  going  to  bed." 

On  his  way  home,  when  the  noise  of  the  streets  had  muffled 
the  echo  of  Ives'  question — although  it  continued  to  ring  poign- 
antly in  Fox's  ears — he  thought  of  Martha,  and,  in  the  re- 
pentant mood  of  that  moment,  took  oath  he  would  never  tempt 
her  again.  How  well  he  kept  his  voluntary  vow  may  be  wholly 
dependent  upon  Martha. 

That  night  the  1 1 :40  train  carried  Eva  and  Andy  back  to 
the  Capital.  They  were  happy,  for  she  had  in  her  hand-bag 
that  which  duplicated  many  times  the  five  large  bills  Andy 
gave  her  one  night  only  recently;  while  Akers'  joy  and  bliss 
could  be  measured  by  nothing  more  accurately  than  the  present 
wretchedness  of  Sam  Ives. 

The  next  morning  Martha  and  her  father  went  west,  and 
two  days  later  Fox  and  Ives  were  in  New  York.  They  were 
there  to  consult  the  best  lawyer  in  the  land — not  as  defendants ; 
at  present  they  only  wanted  advice  from  Mr.  Roberts,  the  ad- 
visor of  troubled  agents  of  consolidation. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   NEW   CAESARISM 

Now,  all  these  things,  and  there  was  much  more  I  am  sure 
he  did  not  tell  me,  came  from  Chief  Bostwick's  private  diary, 
which  I  was  permitted  to  examine  on  his  return  from  St.  Louis. 
In  another  day  he  was  off  for  New  York;  nothing  could  have 
turned  him  from  his  quest  of  Twain's  assailants. 

At  once  I  was  seized  with  the  fear  that  the  Chief's  next  move 
must  certainly  involve,  even  now,  the  very  social  center  of  the 
gigantic  and  merciless  system  of  mongers  in  whose  interest  the 
stupendous  outrage  had  seemed  to  be  necessary ;  for  it  could  be 
nothing  short  of  fear  that  prompted  my  present  emotions — a 
sickening  apprehension  that  when  the  whole  truth  were  known 
it  was  inevitable  innocent  hearts  would  be  made  to  bleed  out 
of  very  shame.  Who  could  predict  the  far-reaching  conse- 
quences of  the  impending  revelations?  How  many  stately 
dames,  yea,  how  many  lofty  daughters  and  vainglorious  callow 
sons,  the  offspring  of  our  peculiar  American  "nobility,"  would 
be  bowed  in  mortifying  sorrow  ?  Such,  alas !  is  the  wages  of 
greed,  which  persists  in  overleaping  itself. 

But  the  period  of  hortation  was  passed;  seemingly,  that 
powerful  force — human  selfishness — had  got  beyond  the  pale 
of  warning  admonition.  So,  come  what  might,  let  guilt  find  its 
victims  where  it  would,  Bostwick  must  press  forward  in  his 
campaign  of  investigation,  for  by  this  time,  with  many  news- 


154  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

papers  and  magazines  still  crying  for  avengement  against  a 
monumental  wrong,  the  public  mind  had  become  intently  fixed 
upon  the  theory  that  Twain  had  been  abducted.  Everyone  be- 
lieved it,  of  course;  and  what  everyone  believes  must  be  true. 
Is  not  this  the  essence  of  pure  democracy  ?  So  that,  if  the  public 
can  be  persuaded  only  to  believe,  however  little  foundation 
there  may  be  for  the  thing  believed  in,  have  not  we  established 
a  superior  brand  of  government  ? — no  matter  whether  it  be  gov- 
ernment by  monopoly,  government  by  a  subservient  press,  or 
government  by  law — the  latter,  seemingly,  being  the  least  popu- 
lar just  now  and  the  others  more  directly  and  immediately 
profitable  for  those  engaged  in  it. 

In  the  cavilling  times  of  which  I  write  public  affairs  had 
sunk  to  luckless  straits.  Healthful  and  honest  competition  had 
been  superseded  by  a  heartless  scramble  for  wealth  and 
power — not  a  struggle  in  which  the  fittest  would  survive,  but 
one  instead  that  invited  soulless  endeavor,  devouring  greed  and 
a  new  kind  of  ambition  for  corporate  sway  over  all  the  things 
of  the  earth.  The  inevitable  result  was  that  as  the  individual 
succeeded  he  was  forced  into  combination  with  others  of  his 
kind.  Thus  the  science  of  consolidation  soon  became  suffi- 
ciently exact  and  endurable  to  command  considerable  admira- 
tion and  to  excite  no  small  amount  of  emulation,  particularly 
amongst  those  who  believed  in  "doing  things"  and  accepted 
this  rule  of  business  as  the  acme  of  human  aspiration. 

And,  notwithstanding  the  laws  enacted  with  a  view  to  re- 
straining voracious  combination,  the  work  of  consolidation 
went  on  unabated,  until,  finally,  every  line  of  industry  came 
under  control  of  a  single  management.  Here,  then,  was  a 
government  of  monopoly,  by  monopoly,  for  monopoly.  Mean- 
time, the  noble  profession  of  the  law  had  been  perverted  from 
its  original  purpose  of  doing  justice,  though  the  heavens  fall,  to 
the  baser  end  of  circumvention ;  to  the  interpretation  and  con- 


THE     NEW     CAESARISM  155 

struction  of  solemn  statutes  so  as  to  suit  the  convenience  and 
ensure  the  further  enrichment  of  predaceous  wealth. 

But  our  friend  Grey  has  already  given  this  subject  no  small 
attention,  and  few  men  understood  it  as  well  as  he;  none,  per- 
haps, was  quite  as  free  to  tell  the  truth  about  the  tortuous  thing 
as  the  editor  of  "The  Morning  Record,"  which,  thus  far,  had 
preserved  its  independence,  although  the  Englishman  was  in 
constant  dread  that  Grey  was  in  danger  either  of  succumbing 
to  the  enticements  of  wealth  or  of  going  over  to  the  ranks  of 
radicalism,  in  toto. 

In  this  situation,  with  Bostwick  indefinitely  away,  and, 
owing  to  my  own  recent  absence  from  the  country,  being  un- 
familiar with  the  intricate  workings  of  the  modern  political 
and  business  machine,  I  was  left  to  meditate,  to  philosophise 
and  to  wait.  What  else  was  there  for  me  to  do?  I  had  lost  all 
interest  in  the  Senate's  proceedings,  so  tame  and  tedious  had 
they  become;  and  as  for  society  and  its  empty,  frivolous  de- 
mands, I  cared  nothing.  So  that  my  thoughts  were  soon  ab- 
sorbed in  an  effort  to  justify  the  evil  consequences  in  this 
strange  affair,  to  adjust  them  to  their,  basic  causes,  and  to  in- 
dulge in  speculation  as  to  whether  I  was  living  in  an  age  of 
healthy  progress  or  in  an  era  that  portended  a  new  kind  of 
paganism. 

Two  days  later  I  had  a  visit  from  an  old  friend — a  Philoso- 
pher whom  I  had  not  seen  in  a  number  of  years,  although  we 
had  kept  in  touch  with  each  other  by  letter  during  most  of  that 
time.  He  came  to  my  lodgings  yesterday,  and,  I  being  out  of 
my  apartment,  he  left  word  that  he  would  return  at  this  very 
hour.  Philosophers  are  always  most  punctual  in  keeping  their 
appointments.  And  yet,  had  not  I  been  aware  that  he  was  com- 
ing, I  would  know  whose  footstep  it  is  on  the  uncarpeted  stair ; 
surely,  whose  methodical  rap  it  is  on  the  thin  pine  door  that 
now  opens  to  admit  the  sapient  old  sage  to  my  humble  quarters. 


156  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Aut  Caesar  aut  nullus,"  he  cried,  "for  indeed,  sir,  as  it  was 
in  the  days  of  the  ancient  Romans,  so  it  is  now ;  it  is  Caesar 
or  it  is  nothing." 

Thus  he  greeted  me,  without  even  taking  my  proffered  hand ; 
yet,  that  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  my  Philosopher  friend 
to  do.  He  was  not  an  emotional  man,  and  seldom  went  further 
in  the  matter  of  salutation  than  to  make  a  stiff  bow. 

"Yes,  sir,"  he  continued,  "again  the  world  has  its  Caesars. 
But  these  modern  tyrants  are  interested  in  erecting  a  new  kind 
of  dominion.  Where  the  old  ones  disposed  of  their  antagonists 
by  breaking  them  on  the  rack,  casting  them  into  the  Tiber, 
hurling  them  headlong  on  the  rocks  from  towers  and  parapets, 
or  put  them  to  death  by  poison,  by  strangulation,  by  the  sword, 
these  new  Caesars  break  the  spirits  and  the  hearts  of  the  teeming 
millions  by  the  slower  and  more  unhuman  process  of  sophistry 
and  extortion ;  by  picturing  to  them  the  beauties  of  independ- 
ence, only  to  deprive  them  of  its  fruits  through  statutes  that 
may  be  interpreted  for  the  benefit  of  privilege." 

Whereupon  the  Philosopher,  ignoring  my  request  that  he  take 
a  seat,  paced  the  floor  solemnly,  his  hands  clasped  tightly  at  his 
back,  his  fine  head  poised  loftily  and  his  faultless  features  all 
animate  with  newly  aroused  indignation.  I  wondered  but  did 
not  ask  him  what  it  was  that  had  stirred  him  to  such  depths. 

"Sir,"  he  went  on,  after  sitting  down,  "I  am  just  from  a 
meeting  of  the  Yellow  Dog  Club,  where  we  discussed  the  prin- 
ciples of  Altrocracy.  We  are  all  of  one  mind,  for  as  there  are 
no  millionaires  amongst  us,  only  yellow  dogs,  remember,  selfish- 
ness never  enters  into  our  proceedings.  Not  one  of  our  mem- 
bers believes  that  Twain  was  abducted,  but  everyone  does  be- 
lieve he  would  have  been  but  for  his  mysterious  disappear- 
ance at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  to  have  been  carried 
away.  Still,  we  wasted  little  time  on  this  comparatively  trivial 
matter,  over  which  the  multitude  is  now  in  a  state  of  delirium. 


THE     NEW     CAESARISM  157 

The  Yellow  Dog  Club,  sir,  deals  with  the  greater  problems — 
the  abstract  question,  the  abridged  inquiry,  of  whether  this 
money-mad  generation  is  merely  setting  the  pace  for  its  suc- 
cessors, and  how  long  the  Republic  is  to  endure  under  modern 
Caesarism." 

Then  the  Philosopher  gave  me  an  interesting  review  of  the 
essential  things  that  had  happened  during  my  sojourn  in  the 
Far  East,  referring  with  vivid  causticity  to  the  early  achieve- 
ments and  later  failures  of  one  of  our  Presidents  of  whom,  he 
said,  much  had  been  expected  and  nothing  fulfilled. 

"But,  sir,  it  is  the  part  of  philosophy  to  be  charitable.  To 
err  is  human,  and  this  makes  the  descent  to  hell  an  easy  one 
for  those  who  are  willing  to  depart  from  truth  in  quest  of 
power." 

Here  I  may  pause  to  remark  that  it  was  under  these  condi- 
tions that  the  Hon.  Ephraim  Fox,  counsel  for  the  Come  Quick 
Danger  Railroad,  rose  to  a  position  of  importance  in  the  man- 
agement of  politics  in  those  states  which  had  been  "shot  with 
steel"  by  his  railway  company,  and  that  Mr.  Adelbert  Roberts 
also  acquired  his  great  prominence  as  the  special  legal  adviser 
of  the  Master  Monger,  and  the  adjuster  of  affairs  at  the 
nation's  Capital. 

As  the  Philosopher  was  about  to  proceed  there  came  a  rap  at 
my  door.  It  was  Chief  Bostwick,  who,  having  had  little  diffi- 
culty in  following  the  devious  trails  of  Fox  and  Ives,  had  made 
some  important  discoveries  in  New  York.  Bostwick  was  un- 
usually outspoken  this  morning.  In  fact,  and  to  my  surprise, 
he  talked  freely  in  presence  of  the  Philosopher,  and  while  run- 
ning over  his  notes,  having  mentioned  the  name  of  Mr.  Roberts, 
the  Philosopher  smiled. 

"Ah !"  he  cried,  "you  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  very  great 
man,  sir.  It  was  he  who  spun  the  web  in  which  the  President 
I  spoke  to  you  about,"  addressing  me,  "was  enmeshed.  Roberts 


158  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

is  a  great  man,  sir,  and  combines  the  highest  wisdom  in  expedi- 
tion and  caution.  He  can  weigh  a  problem  with  such  nicety 
that  his  clients  can  violate  the  law  with  impunity ;  it  is  all  right 
if  Roberts  says  so.  Judges  and  lawmakers  alike,  not  a  few  of 
them,  in  the  leisure  of  their  dignity,  rarely  question  the  opinion 
of  this  sapient  man;  because,  to  the  knowing  ones,  it  is  under- 
stood he  guards  the  interests,  on  important  occasions,  of  an 
aggregation  of  men  whose  combined  capital  reaches  far  beyond 
the  ten-billion  mark.  Anyone  in  distress,  if  he  belongs  to  the 
Mongers'  Guild,  need  not  bother  himself  about  the  cost  of 
advice.  It  is  all  in  the  family." 

Here  the  Philosopher  indulged  in  a  laugh,  a  rare  thing  for 
him  to  do.  Then  he  apologized  for  his  levity  and  arose  as  if  he 
would  take  hist leave,  but  the  Chief  and  I  persuaded  him  to  re- 
main. 

"Your  knowledge  concerning  Roberts,"  said  Bostwick,  "is 
too  important  to  be  dispensed  with.  Do  sit  down,  Professor, 
while  I  go  over  my  notes.  You  may  find  much  in  them  that 
will  be  of  interest  to  you." 

"You  are  very  kind,  sir,  to  give  me  your  confidence,  which  I 
believe  you  know  will  not  be  violated.  And  yet  I  am  not  sure 
that  the  detective's  profession  holds  much  interest  for  me. 
I've  always  avoided  police  courts,  lest  the  revelations  should 
shatter  my  ideals  and  disturb  my  reflections.  I  mean  no  dis- 
respect, Mr.  Bostwick,  for  either  you  or  your  calling." 

The  Chief  bowed  gravely,  saying  that  detectives  were  not  at 
all  sensitive.  Then  he  referred  to  Mr.  Fox's  part  in  this  tragi- 
comedy. 

"You  understand,  of  course,  that  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Mongers'  Guild  to  which  you  have  referred,  Professor,  and  that 
he  had  a  very  ugly  experience  in  St.  Louis  in  connection  with  a 
recent  visit  to  that  city  of  one  Andy  Akers  and  a  woman  by  the 
name  of  Farnum." 


THE     NEW     CAESARISM  159 

But  the  Philosopher  declared  he  was  not  concerned  about  the 
hoi  polloi  in  this  case.  Still,  he  did  feel  an  interest  in  Lawyer 
Roberts,  whom  he  knew  personally. 

"Well,"  continued  Bostwick,  "Fox  is  just  now  greatly  in 
need  of  Roberts'  help.  He  never  found  any  great  difficulty 
in  solving  ordinary  legal  problems  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
company,  but  now  he,  too,  is  in  want  of  expert  opinion,  about  a 
matter  the  like  of  which  never  before  fell  within  the  pale  of  hi& 
legal  investigations." 

So,  with  due  apology  to  my  readers,  and  also  to  my  Philo- 
sopher friend,  for  indulging  the  sordid  recitals  of  the  muse 
that  presides  over  this  part  of  my  story,  I  will  tell  you  of  the 
experiences  of  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr.  Ives  after  they  arrived  in 
New  York.  Men  of  Lawyer  Roberts'  attainments,  familiar  as 
they  must  be  with  the  motives  and  aspirations  of  their  fellow- 
kind,  waste  little  time  in  preliminaries. 

"Good  morning,  Mr.  Fox,"  said  he  as  soon  as  the  C.  Q.  D. 
counselor  had  entered  the  door. 

"Howdy,  Mr.  Roberts." 

Fox's  familiar  salutation  indicated  his  good  standing  as  a 
clansman.  Ives  had  remained  in  the  ante  room.  Bostwick 
says  it  is  a  rule  of  men  of  the  like  of  these  never  to  have  a 
third  party  present  during  conferences  of  a  delicate  nature. 

"Did  you  bring  the  girl?"  asked  Roberts,  coming  at  once  to 
the  point. 

"The  girl?    Which—" 

"Miss  Giddings." 

"N-no."  Fox  was  puzzled,  and  his  face  took  on  a  glow  of 
sudden  color. 

"Is  she  discreet?" 

"Discretion  personified,"  replied  Fox  in  a  confident  tone» 
"But  why  Miss  Giddings?" 


160  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Does  she  know  when  not  to  talk?"  asked  Roberts,  ignoring 
Fox's  question. 

"She  is  a  very  sensible  girl,"  was  the  answer. 

Then  Roberts  looked  through  the  open  window,  breathed 
in  the  invigorating  salt  breeze  that  came  up  from  the  bay,  and 
played  a  tattoo  on  the  edge  of  his  big  mahogany  desk  with  his 
long  fingers.  Turning  so  as  to  look  Fox  straight  in  the  eyes, 
he  asked : 

"Does  she  love  you,  Mr.  Fox?" 

"Damn  it,  Roberts,  why  indulge  in  ambiguities?" 

"It  is  important,  my  friend;  I  must  know." 

"If  she  loves  me?" 

"To  be  sure." 

"I  am  a  married  man,  sir,"  replied  Fox. 

"That  does  not  signify." 

"Frankly,  she  does  not ;  so  she  says." 

"Unfortunate!     You  have  questioned  her?" 

"Y-yes." 

"That  being  true,  I  shall  not  ask  if  you  are  in  love  with  her." 

"If  you  should  I  would  decline  to  answer,"  rejoined  Fox, 
sharply. 

"It  would  be  unnecessary  to  call  any  other  witness,"  said 
Roberts,  with  an  effort  at  a  smile.  "But  we  are  wasting  valu- 
able time,"  he  continued. 

"And  making  little  progress,"  added  Fox,  sententiously. 
Roberts  ignored  the  remark. 

"As  to  her  character,  Mr.  Fox — her  good  name.  I  must 
know  without  any  quibbling." 

"Of  the  highest  order,"  replied  Fox,  positively. 

"That  is  fortunate." 

"But  I  did  not  come  here  to  discuss  Miss  Gidding,"  ex- 
claimed Fox,  by  this  time  very  red  in  the  face  again. 


THE     NEW     CAESARISM  161 

"We  will  not  discuss  anyone  else — not  now;  that  is  to  say, 
she  must  play  the  leading  part  in  this  miserable  tragedy." 

"Tragedy!"  exclaimed  Fox.  The  redness  had  left  his  face, 
even  suddenly.  Instead,  he  was  now  quite  pale. 

"It  may  turn  out  to  be  a  tragedy,"  replied  Roberts. 

"I  hope  not." 

"So  do  I,  sincerely.  It  was  an  awkward  piece  of  business, 
Mr.  Fox." 

"I  had  no  part  in  it,  Mr.  Roberts." 

"That  goes  without  saying.    Confessions  must  be  avoided." 

"I  have  nothing  to  confess." 

"One  more  question,  Mr.  Fox.    Who  does  the  girl  love?" 

"Her  father,  above  all  men,  I    believe." 

"Ah !  Fortunate  again.  Her  father  is  connected  with  your 
company?" 

"In  a  political  way,  yes." 

"You  can  control  him,  of  course?" 

"I've  always  been  able  to  do  so,  through  others." 

"How  many  others?" 

"One — Sam  Ives." 

"And  Ives?    Is  he  straight?" 

"Perfectly  so." 

"Won't  sell  you  out,  nor  run  away?" 

"Nothing  could  shake  my  faith  in  him." 

"Except  the  act  itself,  perhaps,"  added  Roberts,  parentheti- 
cally. "Now,  you  and  Ives,  being  entirely  innocent  of  any 
wrong  doing,  must  stand  together.  You  must  know  where  he 
is  and  what  he  is  doing  every  minute.  Keep  in  close  touch 
with  him,  Mr.  Fox." 

"He  is  here  now — in  the  ante  room." 

"Ah,  indeed !  Step  into  the  room  over  there  for  a  few  min- 
utes and  close  the  door,  Mr.  Fox.  I  want  to  talk  with  Ives, 
alone." 


162  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Touching  the  bell,  Roberts  gave  directions  that  the  gentle- 
man in  the  ante  room  be  admitted. 

"I'm  glad  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Ives.  How  are  the  crops  in  your 
state  this  year?" 

"Poor,"  answered  Farmer  Ives.  "We  had  hot  winds,  con- 
siderable hail  and  then  an  early  frost.  There  must  have  been  a 
comet  around;  anyway  our  climate  was  all  upset  this  year." 

"Makes  a  difference  in  politics,"  suggested  Roberts,  with  a 
twinkle  in  his  eyes. 

"Yes.  When  the  people  have  plenty  they're  not  hard  to 
manage ;  when  crops  fail,  politics  is — like  war." 

"Full  stomachs  make  easy  consciences,  Mr.  Ives." 

"Just  so;  and  empty  stomachs  make  mischief." 

"It's  a  sin  to  be  idle  or  to  go  hungry,  Mr.  Ives.  Why,  I've 
more  work  than  I  can  do,  and  I  met  a  hundred  shiftless  men  in 
the  streets  this  morning,  some  of  them  begging  for  food,  but 
none  of  them  asking  for  work." 

Roberts'  economic  perspective  was  limited  to  his  immediate 
surroundings.  His  philosophy  was  not  permitted  to  stray  into 
the  field  of  economic  morality.  Having  settled  the  great  ques- 
tion of  equal  opportunity  to  his  own  satisfaction,  he  rose,  ex- 
tended his  hand  to  Ives  and  said: 

"I  heard  you  were  here,  and  wanted  to  get  acquainted  with 
you.  Glad  to  have  met  you.  I  may  see  you  again  later." 

"He  seems  a  square  kind  of  fellow,"  remarked  Roberts,  when 
Ives  had  retired  and  Fox  came  in  again. 

"I'm  glad  you  like  him,  Mr.  Roberts.  He  can  be  depended 
upon  in  any  kind  of  an  emergency." 

"In  your  own  way,  Mr.  Fox,  keep  Giddings  sweet.  Above 
all  else  his  daughter  must  not  talk  with  anyone,  except  her 
father,  until  she  gets  instructions.  Then  she  must  do  pre- 
cisely as  directed.  If  she  is  the  kind  of  girl  you  indicate,  I  can 
see  a  way  out." 


THE     NEW     CAESARISM  163 

"May  I  know  your  plan,  Mr.  Roberts?" 

"It  is  best  that  you  know  nothing  about  it;  you  are  an  inno- 
cent party,  of  course." 

"Of  course,"  replied  Fox. 

"One  other  inquiry,  Mr.  Fox.  Miss  Grey,  I  am  told,  is  a 
most  admirable  woman,  very  much  in  love  with  Senator  Twain. 
It  is  reported  she  was  prostrated  for  many  days  after  it  hap- 
pened; that  she  is  of  Quaker  blood,  tender,  sympathetic,  for- 
giving. What  is  your  knowledge  on  these  points?" 

"I  have  no  personal  knowledge  about  it;  yet  my  informa- 
tion is  the  same  as  yours.  I  am  very  sorry  for  her." 

"Her  deep  sorrow  may  be  valuable,  Mr.  Fox.  I  will  send 
for  you  if  you  are  needed.  We  must  wait  for  further  develop- 
ments. So — good-day." 

At  this  point  in  Bostwick's  recital  the  Philosopher  inter- 
rupted to  remind  us  of  his  statement  a  while  ago  that  Roberts 
was  a  genius  of  superior  mould.  Then  Bostwick  went  on  to 
unfold  his  discoveries. 

"For  the  life  of  me,  Sam,  I  cannot  understand  that  man 
Roberts,"  said  Fox,  when  he  and  Ives  were  behind  closed 
doors  at  their  hotel. 

"He  only  asked  me  about  the  crops,  and  he  put  idleness  and 
hunger  in  the  list  of  sins,"  replied  Ives. 

"And  his  talk  with  me  was  quite  as  foreign  to  our  subject  as 
the  crops.  Most  of  it  was  about  Martha.  He  wanted  to  know 
if  she  loved  me,  and  insisted  upon  an  answer.  God !  but  I  wish 
she  did,  Sam.  I'd  give  up  everything  for  her." 

"Maybe  she  will  love  you,  after  we're  all  out  of  the  woods," 
replied  Ives.  "What  is  our  next  move?" 

"Roberts,  after  his  enigmatical  talk,  said  we  must  wait  for 
further  developments ;  that  Giddings  must  keep  still  and  Mar- 
tha, too." 

"That's  reasonable,"  Ives  replied. 


164  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"I  fear  it  is  too  simple  a  remedy  for  a  serious  disease.  He 
also  spoke  of  Miss  Grey's  Quaker  blood,  her  forgiving  nature." 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Ives,  "he  would  have  Martha  throw  her- 
self upon  the  mercy  of  the  Grey  girl,  appeal  to  her  for  assist- 
ance in  saving  her  father  and  herself  from  disgrace.  Splendid ! 
Splendid!  Roberts  wouldn't  be  where  he  is  if  he  didn't  have 
brains,  plenty  of  them." 

"He  must  be  a  wonder,"  added  Fox. 

"Why,  they  tell  me,"  Ives  went  on,  "that  when  he  hasn't 
anything  to  do  here  he  goes  to  Washington  as  a  sort  of  recrea- 
tion and  adjusts  the  whole  of  the  Government  machinery  the 
way  he  wants  it,  as  a  clockmaker  adjusts  a  clock.  He  is  the 
most  expert  conservationist  I  know  of!  He's  got  a  wire  run- 
ning into  every  department  over  there  and  buttons  at  this  end  of 
them.  He  knows  which  one  to  touch  and  when  to  touch  it. 
If  an  official  gets  gay  with  our  crowd  you'll  hear  a  buzz  in 
Roberts'  office.  The  official  will  be  transferred  or  removed,  or 
maybe  he'll  be  allowed  to  resign,  if  he's  high  up,  and  then  a 
new  man  goes  in  who  has  to  learn  the  ropes.  This  takes  time, 
but  time  is  money  in  our  pockets.  We  can  do  a  great  many 
things  while  the  Government  is  talking  about  them  and  getting 
ready.  And  you  know  that  if  a  senator  isn't  good  to  us,  he's 
defeated  for  reelection.  Roberts  superintends  this  department 
also." 

"Oh,  we've  got  a  great  system,"  exclaimed  Fox,  "from  the 
top  to  the  bottom." 

"The  top  principally,"  was  the  laconic  reply.  "With  the 
top  all  right,  the  bottom  and  all  the  way  up  will  come  right." 

"Caesar !    What  a  pull  Roberts  must  have." 

"It's  tremendous!"  exclaimed  Ives.  "Yet,  the  hardest  job 
he  ever  tackled  was  holding  that  bucking  President  down.  He 
had  to  have  assistance.  Even  then  he  was  almost  a  nervous 
wreck_  when  he  got  through ;  but  he  succeeded  in  doing  it." 


THE     NEW     CAESARISM  165 

"Superman  against  superman,"  replied  Fox. 

"Yes,  and  the  other  fellow  had  all  the  patronage  and  the 
veto  power,"  added  Ives.  "But  Roberts  had  the  campaign 
fund  in  his  vest  pocket,  and  all  our  people  were  behind  him. 
He  also  had  helpers  in  the  various  departments,  who  assisted 
him  obsequiously.  He  would  have  lost  out  in  the  days  when 
the  railroads  were  fighting  one  another,  and  the  other  corpora- 
tions were  competing  for  business.  Consolidation  is  a  great 
thing,  Eph." 

"No  doubt  about  it,  Sam;  it's  a  great  power.  But  how  can 
one  man  cover  so  much  ground?  That's  what  puzzles  me." 

"Oh,  it's  easy  for  a  man  like  Roberts,  with  the  help  he  has. 
You  could  do  it,  Eph.  Why  it's  understood  beforehand,  no 
matter  what  party  is  in  power,  who  are  to  fill  the  high  places 
in  the  Government.  That's  the  machine  that  does  the  busi- 
ness. Have  any  of  our  people  ever  been  hurt?  There's  been 
a  lot  of  fourflushing  by  the  Government,  but  we've  got  all  the 
chips,  haven't  we?" 

"It's  a  great  game,  Sam,  but  where  do  we  come  in,  and 
how?" 

"Oh,  we'll  come  in  all  right.  Roberts  will  take  us  through, 
but  as  to  how  he  will  do  it  I  can't  say.  I'll  bet  the  wheels 
are  going  around  right  now.  We  don't  hear  them;  they're 
muffled  and  have  ball  bearings." 

"We're  under  his  orders,  Sam.  Now,  you  take  the  next  train* 
home.  See  your  man  Giddings  at  once,  for  that  seems  to  be 
what  Roberts  wants  done.  Have  him  talk  to  Martha,  bless 
her  heart !  She'll  do  anything  for  her  father ;  anything  to  keep 
him  out  of  trouble  or  to  get  him  out.  If  he  tells  her  he  is  sus- 
pected in  this  matter,  and  that  she  can  save  his  reputation  and 
her  own  as  well,  Martha  will  find  a  way  to  do  it.  She's  mighty 
wise,  Sam.  Besides,  she  is  proud  and  ambitious.  And  Gid- 
dings must  stay  close  by  that  man  Akers,  and  keep  a  watch 


166  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

on  the  Farnum  woman.  They've  got  enough  to  keep  them 
going  for  a  while,  perhaps,  but  if,  as  you  say,  she  can't  play 
bridge  a  little  bit,  she  will  soon  lose  her  part  of  it,  even  if 
Akers  was  square  and  divided  with  her." 

Bostwick,  having  placed  his  memorandum  book  in  his  pocket, 
looked  inquiringly  at  the  Philosopher,  and  waited  for  him  to 
give  his  opinion,  which  he  did  thus : 

"Sir,  I  am  not  an  expert  in  the  casuistry  of  your  profession; 
still,  I  would  admonish  you  of  one  thing  that  occurs  to  me 
at  this  moment.  In  dealing  with  this  problem  you  will  doubt- 
less discover  that  the  average  politician  is  not  as  bad  as  he  is 
said  to  be,  and  the  average  reformer  is  not  as  good  as  he  ought 
to  be.  There  is  not  a  vast  difference  in  men.  But,  sir,  you  will 
find  that  Roberts  is  abler  than  all  of  them;  I  do  not  say  he  is 
more  honest." 


CHAPTER  XV 

a 

THE  NEW  GOLDEN  RULE 

What  a  coarse,  cruel,  unfeeling  world  it  is,  to  be  sure, 
thought  I,  as  I  sat  with  a  friend  in  the  orchestra  circle  of  a 
leading  Chicago  theatre,  enjoying  the  sweet  notes  of  a  foot- 
light  favorite  who,  to  maintain  her  hold  upon  the  pleasure- 
loving  public,  as  my  friend  hinted,  was  obliged  to  do  some 
rather  stunning  steps  as  a  danseuse.  Perhaps,  to  be  entirely 
accurate,  I  should  say  it  was  not  "steps"  alone  that  drew  the 
crowd,  for  she  was  riotously  nimble  of  limb,  and  shapely  withal. 
It  was  her  dancing,  for  the  most  part,  that  evoked  the  greatest 
applause.  Still,  she  was  earning  an  honest  living.  And  the 
throngs  came  nightly,  even  daily,  during  her  engagement,  to  see 
the  graceful  creature,  against  whose  rare  charms,  it  was  under- 
stood at  all  the  clubs  of  swelldom,  that  a  prominent  member 
of  the  monger  aristocracy  had  set  a  million  in  cash — take  it  or 
leave  it,  as  she  pleased.  "A  cool,  round  million,  my  honey," 
were  the  words  that  rumor  insisted  were  whispered  in  her  ear. 
But  she  spurned  it  indignantly,  ordering  him  never  to  speak 
to  her  again.  Still,  one  false  report  invariably  begets  a  meaner 
one.  So  that,  finally,  the  exchange  was  made.  Thus  the 
gossipers  rolled  the  morsel  under  their  mischievous  tongues: 
wearying  of  the  daily  and  nightly  applause,  her  heart  longing 
for  something  her  head  could  not  fully  understand,  the  poor 
girl,  moved  by  an  undefinable  rashness  and  the  lure  of  gold, 


168  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

threw  herself  at  him,  and  was  soon  devoured.  One  had  but  to 
see  her  and  listen  to  her  sweet  melody  to  know  that  the  story 
was  untrue,  for  she  had  retained  her  voice,  her  beauty,  and 
her  striking  modesty,  returning,  after  a  month's  rest,  to  the 
footlights.  It  could  not  be  so  with  one  who  had  the  misfortune 
to  fall  under  the  destroying  spell  of  a  million  cash. 

But  this  lesser  story,  as  the  reader  will  see,  has  little  connec- 
tion with  the  one  I  set  out  to  tell  months  ago.  It  comes  to  me 
as  a  reminder  of  some  of  the  temptations  in  these  money-mad 
times  and  as  an  incident  of  my  observations  long  before  impulse 
and  duty  moved  me  to  make  this  chronicle ;  nor  is  it  a  figment 
of  the  imagination. 

I  became  interested  in  this  young  lady's  singing  while  wait- 
ing in  the  big  convention  city  for  the  assembling  of  the  lead- 
ing politicians  of  the  country,  having  arrived  from  the  Capital 
for  the  latter  purpose  in  company  with  my  friends  the  Phi- 
losopher and  Chief  Bostwick.  I  was  the  guest  that  evening  of 
an  old  acquaintance  who,  being  a  thorough  cosmopolitan,  was 
familiar  with  the  gossip  of  the  stage  and  the  clubs  of  quite  all 
the  great  cities. 

Congress  had  adjourned  a  week  ago,  at  the  end  of  its  long 
session,  with  the  usual  charge  at  its  door  that  it  had  not  ful- 
filled the  essential  promises  in  the  platform  of  the  party  in 
power.  But  such  accusations,  like  the  one  concerning  the 
pretty  singer's  character,  appear  to  be  quite  as  common  as  they 
are  sometimes  unjust.  The  President's  numerous  messages  to 
the  body,  wherein  he  made  certain  recommendations  that  met 
only  with  ephemeral  approval,  were  now  as  "leather  or  pru- 
nella," for  new  issues  were  rising  and  new  platform  pledges 
were  incubating,  crowding  old  ones  back  into  the  dusty  domain 
of  forgotten  political  faiths. 

So  that  public  interest  was  rapidly  shifting  to  the  two  great 
conventions  soon  to  convene  in  the  big  city  of  the  lakes,  and 


THE     NEW     GOLDEN     RULE  169 

many  senators  would  be  present.  One  of  these  conventions  was 
to  be  the  first  national  gathering  of  the  Stalwart  hosts  of  the 
two  old  parties,  now  combined  and  consolidated,  as  I  have  said, 
under  one  banner,  across  which  was  emblazoned  the  word  "Con- 
servative"— a  term  which  many  deeply  interested  persons  be- 
lieved would  have  a  sort  of  anesthetic  effect  on  the  public  mind. 
A  humorous  poet,  with  a  vein  of  irony  in  his  nature,  had  per- 
petrated a  musical  skit  symbolizing  the  commercial  spirit  of  the 
party  and  of  the  age  as  well.  The  prodigies  who  love  wine  and 
song  and  who  infest  such  gatherings  with  their  noise,  turned  the 
serious  proceedings  into  ridiculous  burlesque  by  singing  the  lines 
unctuously  and  uproariously.  It  deserves  a  place  even  in  this 
historical  work.  It  was  called  "The  New  Golden  Rule." 

Dimes  and  dollars,  dollars  and  dimes ; 

To  be  without  money  is  the  worst  of  crimes. 

Keep  all  you  get,  get  all  you  can, 

Is  the  first  and  the  last  and  the  whole  duty  of  man. 

"Delightful,  delightful!"  exclaimed  Burrill  to  a  little  knot 
of  Conservative  senators  who  were  there  to  see  that  the  plat- 
form of  the  political  amalgamation  was  written  so  that  it  could 
be  "properly  construed"  at  the  next  session  of  Congress. 
"You  should  put  that  in  your  platform,"  continued  Burrill. 
"It  typifies  your  principles;  it  voices  your  policy.  It  is  blithe 
and  expressive,  and  might  well  have  been  used  as  libretto  to 
the  vibrant  strains  of  Nero's  fiddle  when  he  played  in  burning 
Rome." 

Baxter  smiled;  he  had  been  classed  with  Nero  on  several 
prior  occasions.  Then  Paine,  the  pundit  of  the  Senate,  said: 

"That  was  a  flight  of  fancy  of  one  Suetonius.  More  reliable 
commentators  say  that  Nero  was  not  on  the  tower,  and  more- 
over that  he  was  not  musical." 

"Yet,  after  the  Christians  were  crucified  and  burned  in  the 
gardens,  Nero  drove  his  chariot  by  the  light  of  the  flames,  and 


170  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

built  his  golden  house  at  the  cost  of  robbery  and  extortion," 
replied  Burrill,  who  knew  history,  too.  Elsewhere  I  have  said 
the  Senate  was  devoid  of  imagination,  but  there  were  some 
individual  exceptions  among  its  membership. 

"It  was  a  conspiracy  that  roused  him,"  replied  Paine,  blankly. 

"So,  also,  with  Altrocracy,"  answered  Burrill,  sharply. 

The  wise  and  learned  Paine  had  lived  to  a  very  ripe  old 
age — not  in  years,  but  in  esthetical  observation  and  study. 
Still,  the  range  of  his  thoughts  was  somewhat  contracted;  he 
knew  "the  common  people"  and  their  aspirations  principally 
by  what  other  scholars  had  said  about  them  in  books. 

"Come !  come !"  exclaimed  Andrew  Holt.  "We're  all  good 
fellows,  and  must  be  generous  with  one  another.  You'll  pass 
your  Purchase  bill.  I'm  going  out  of  business.  Already  my 
monopoly,  as  you  call  it,  has  taken  steps  to  dispose  of  its  con- 
stituent plants.  We  intend  to  sell  or  to  lease  them  to  responsi- 
ble employes.  So,  you  see,  you  will  not  be  able  to  confiscate 
our  property  when  your  new  law  becomes  operative." 

"Good  for  you,  Holt!"  shouted  Brady,  slapping  the  million- 
aire on  the  back."  "If  all  monopolists  would  do  that,  a  Pur- 
chase bill  might  be  unnecessary." 

"It  would  not  be  necessary  until  the  purchasers  or  lessees 
combined,"  suggested  Halsey,  with  a  sarcastic  laugh.  "Human 
nature  is  stubborn ;  you  can't  legislate  greed  out  of  its  system." 
Halsey's  philosophy  was  almost  brutal. 

"True,"  replied  Brady;  "yet,  when  human  nature  becomes 
perverted,  it  should  be  effectually  penalized.  Without  efficient 
laws  against  the  common  highwayman  no  one  would  be  safe  on 
the  streets.  We  rarely  fail  to  apprehend  the  transgressor  in 
little  things ;  but  it  is  seldom  those  who  commit  a  certain  class 
of  greater  crimes  are  caught." 

"My  dear  friend,"  replied  Halsey,  "I  admit  your  assertion  is 
true  in  part,  and  it  is  in  close  accord  with  predominant  public 


THE     NEW     GOLDEN     RULE  171 

opinion,  but  public  opinion  is  too  often  misdirected  for  politi- 
cal ends.  It  is  an  easy  matter  for  them  that  are  engaged  in  pro- 
moting new  policies,  based  largely  upon  theory,  to  stir  the 
people  to  a  ferment  of  passion.  The  spectacular  thing  is 
always  popular,  but  even  the  statesmanship  that  comes  out  of 
Dreamland  may  not  be  the  wisest.  From  my  old-fashioned 
way  of  thinking  there  is  positive  danger  in  political  delirium. 
How  many  of  the  really  great  men  of  history,  think  you,  were 
equal  to  putting  handcuffs  on  an  hippopotamus,  or  to  roping  a 
rhinoceros,  or  even  to  riding  a  broncho?  How  many,  I  ask, 
could  lariat  a  jack-rabbit  or  drive  the  beasts  of  the  jungle  to 
cover  in  terror?" 

"There  has  been  but  one,"  interposed  Fordyce,  solemnly 
and  in  a  tone  of  regret. 

"You  answer  well,"  responded  Halsey,  "and  how  many  men 
have  succeeded  in  monopolizing  the  precious  article  of  civic 
virtue,  putting  the  brand  of  crookedness  on  all  the  rest,  either 
directly  or  by  implication?" 

"A  rare  art,  I  must  confess,"  said  Fordyce.  This  partial  ad- 
mission encouraged  Halsey,  who  continued: 

"There  are  two  serious  and  forbidding  elements  in  mod- 
ern politics — Hysteria  and  Lethargy.  Politicians  are  to  blame 
for  the  one  and  the  people  for  the  other.  What  is  most  needed 
for  the  repose  of  our  country  is  Equipoise,  national  and  indi- 
vidual, supplemented  by  Renunciation  and  Tolerance.  Unfor- 
tunately, human  perfection  is  to  be  found  only  in  novels. 
Again,  the  man  that  parades  his  own  honesty  by  attacking  the 
integrity  of  them  that  may  disagree  with  him,  or  with  whom 
he  may  choose  to  disagree,  is  not  likely  to  be  a  safe  leader. 
Some  day  the  people,  tiring  of  political  vaudeville,  will  gladly 
come  back  to  these  trite  maxims.  Then  we  shall  have  a  period 
of  repose  and  genuine  advancement." 

But  Halsey  had  many  such  odd  notions  as  these ;  in  fact,  he 


172  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

had  been  accused  of  being  "an  old  fogy."  It  was  true,  also, 
that  he  preferred,  as  he  declared,  "the  sublime  music  of  Beeth- 
oven to  the  frenzied,  debilitating  ragtime  of  that  rhapsodical 
period." 

"What  disturbs  me  more  than  all  else,"  remarked  Fordyce, 
who  was  a  just  man,  "is  whether,  under  prevailing  conditions, 
we  are  not  to  have  a  new  'Marseillais'  to  stir  into  deep  hatred 
the  smouldering  sentiment  against  oppression  and  arouse  the 
frivolous  millions  to  bloody  deeds.  Our  great  Republic  has 
ripened  more  quickly  than  even  the  most  optimistic  sociologist 
ever  dreamed  of,  and  the  greatest  concern  of  real  patriots,  it 
appears  to  me,  is  the  nature  of  the  inevitable  harvest.  Are  we 
to  find  the  answer  in  the  results  of  these  conventions?  Will 
the  new  party  and  the  new  political  leadership  overcome  the 
power  for  evil  that  is  now  being  exercised  in  the  interest  of 
consolidation? — make  the  accumulation  of  the  world's  wealth 
by  a  few  men  impossible? — allay  or  even  dissipate  the  uni- 
versal dread  of  artificial  financial  panics,  for  these  have  been 
at  the  bottom  of  most  of  our  public  ills?  If  these  desirable 
things  are  to  be  achieved,  it  would  seem  that  no  President 
should  ever  extend  the  hospitality  of  the  White  House  to  the 
malefactors  who  are  responsible  for  certain  disreputable  busi- 
ness methods.  Instead  of  calling  them  there  to  consult  v/ith 
him  in  regard  to  public  policy,  why  not  incarcerate  them  for 
their  glaring  misdeeds?  Instead  of  listening  to  their  threats 
to  lock  the  doors  of  their  banks  if  the  consolidators  are  not  to 
be  allowed  to  go  on  violating  the  law,  why  not  put  the  arro- 
gant and  impudent  knaves  in  jail  and  prohibit  the  sending  of 
flowers  to  their  cells.  A  radical  remedy,  did  you  say?  Truly, 
but  no  worse  than  the  cancerous  disease  now  eating  at  the 
vitals  of  the  nation,  nor  as  bad." 

And  Fordyce  was  not  drinking,  either;  Baxter's  smile  had 


THE     NEW     GOLDEN     RULE  173 

ceased  to  haunt  him  to  further  inebriety,  and  he  had  acquired 
a  reputation  for  being  quite  sensible,  when  sober. 

As  usual,  on  such  occasions,  several  prominent  members  of 
the  Graspers'  Guild  were  there  to  take  observations.  Notably 
amongst  them  were  Andrew  Holt  and  Ely  North,  whose  com- 
bined wealth  was  sufficient  almost  to  stagger  the  imagination. 
We  have  already  had  an  intimation  of  the  aspirations  of  Mr. 
Holt,  who  long  since  found  it  impossible  to  understand  why 
his  importance  in  the  financial  world  did  not  entitle  him  to  a 
seat  in  the  Senate.  As  for  Mr.  North,  who,  no  doubt,  was 
laboring  under  a  like  delusive  conviction,  he  was  acquiring 
public  distinction  by  the  entirely  unique  method  of  lecturing 
the  agriculturists,  enlarging  upon  national  extravagance  and 
the  profligacy  of  the  people.  A  corpulent  humor  had  he ! 

And  yet,  with  all  their  millions,  these  men  were  not  happy. 
Indeed,  I  have  sometimes  thought  the  veriest  pauper  was  less 
miserable  than  they,  or  any  of  their  kind.  As  an  illustration 
of  what  I  mean :  It  is  something  to  have  a  comfortable  share, 
if  we  do  not  make  ourselves  uncomfortable  wanting  it  all ;  yet, 
it  must  be  the  sum  of  complete  wretchedness  to  possess  a  great 
fortune  and  spend  our  days  in  a  soulless  struggle  to  strip  our 
fellows  of  all  their  belongings.  Still,  there  is  a  misery,  I 
imagine,  that  is  more  intense  even  than  this :  Having  succeed- 
ed in  beggaring  a  small  empire  of  men  of  their  independence 
and  manhood,  by  our  avariciousness,  and,  through  despotic 
measures,  laid  a  vast  community  under  perpetual  tribute,  we  sud- 
denly awake  to  a  realization  that  our  stupendous  gains  have  be- 
come a  burden  to  ourselves,  and  that  we  have  gone  too  far  to 
find  a  resting  place  even  in  restitution.  It  is  then  that  we  be- 
gin to  look  about  us  for  an  opportunity  to  justify  our  covetous 
course.  By  this  time  our  neighbors  have  come  to  regard  us  for 
our  grasping  qualities  alone;  and  no  matter  if  we  spend  the 
remainder  of  our  days  expounding  the  code  of  morals,  reciting 


174  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  evils  of  avarice  and  bewailing  the  hollowness  of  a  life  of 
greed,  no  one  will  believe  what  we  say.  However  much  we 
prate  of  patriotism  or  declaim  about  proper  national  ethics, 
those  that  know  of  our  previous  misdeeds  and  those  who  see 
and  feel  only  the  effects  of  them  do  not  credit  us  with  the 
smallest  particle  of  sincerity,  and  the  whole  world  laughs  us  to 
scorn.  This,  then,  is  but  the  period  of  dry  rot  in  a  career  of 
cruel  cupidity. 

Such  was  the  fate  of  Ely  North,  who  was  now  eking  out  a 
sordid  existence  of  isolation.  With  the  hard  judgment  of  his 
unsympathetic  fellowmen  already  upon  him,  what  would  be 
his  reward  when,  robed  in  his  pocketless  shroud,  he  should 
appear  for  final  sentence?  Surely,  it  would  not  be,  "Well 
done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant."  Still,  by  then,  per- 
haps, the  Northern  Spike  Company  will  have  erected  a  needle 
with  a  great  eye,  through  which  even  he,  like  Koppinger,  may 
pass,  unhampered  by  worldly  sins. 

And  yet  it  may  be  that  Mr.  North  was  not  bothering  his 
mind  about  spiritual  matters,  else,  perhaps,  he  would  not 
concern  himself  anxiously  with  the  details  of  Altrocratic  inten- 
tions, or  grow  red  in  the  face  when  Senator  Brady,  whom  he 
had  just  berated  for  his  radicalism,  expressed  this  opinion 
about  him: 

"Oh,  you're  too  busy  cutting  coupons  to  be  patriotic." 

"Quit  dreaming,  my  boy;  quit  dreaming.  Go  home  and  be 
good,"  was  North's  soothing  rejoinder. 

"Go  home  and  be  good;  quit  dreaming.  This  is  the  advice 
invariably  given  to  those  who,  if  they  wish  to  remain  in 
politics,  must  'play  the  game'  with  the  pack  of  cards  duly 
'gummed'  by  the  Guild."  This  was  the  parting  shot  that 
Brady  gave  the  magnate. 

Just  before  the  Altrucratic  convention  adjourned,  a  resolu- 
tion, condemning  "the  criminal  degeneracy  of  a  cause  that  finds 


THE     NEW     GOLDEN     RULE  175 

justification  in  abduction"  and  sympathizing  with  "those  near 
and  dear  to  Cornelius  Twain,"  was  adopted  unanimously. 
Enid  Grey  was  now  a  national  figure,  Cornelius  Twain  a 
martyr  and  the  Altrocratic  party  a  promising  political  force. 

If  Eph  Fox  had  any  purpose  in  lingering  in  the  city  of  the 
lakes  while  the  lithographs  and  general  litter  of  the  two  great 
conventions  were  being  swept  up,  it  must  have  been  on  account 
of  his  extreme  anxiety  to  see  Sam  Ives,  who  had  gone  to  Wash- 
ington to  confer  with  Bill  Giddings,  and  was  expected  to 
return  as  soon  as  possible.  Giddings  was  at  the  Capital  so  as 
to  be  near  Andy  Akers. 

Had  Andy  and  Eva  been  sufficiently  placated? 

This  question,  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  Fox's  mind,  was 
now  infesting  his  mentality  sorely  and  persistently.  Nemesis 
was  surely  arrived  again.  Ah!  if  it  were  only  Martha  Gid- 
dings instead  of  Nemesis ;  for,  although  Fox  had  not  been  able 
to  fathom  Roberts'  plan  of  action,  neither  could  he  resist  the 
wicked  emotions  of  his  unhallowed  heart  when  he  thought  of 
Martha  and  his  unrequited  protestations  of  love  the  night  he 
sidetracked  his  private  car  at  B . 

Ives  returned  promptly  to  say  that  Giddings  was  alert  and 
active,  that  Andy  and  Eva  were  happy,  for  they  were  at  the 
sea  shore,  jostling  the  Boardwalkers — "the  lenders,  the  givers, 
the  spenders,  whose  motto  is  Easy  Goes."  But  Ives'  breast 
was  filled  with  dire  apprehension.  He  had  seen  Ralph  Bolston. 

"Of  course,"  said  he,  "the  meddling  Englishman  don't  know 
me.  That  being  the  case,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  look  him 
over,  to  study  him.  He  is  a  big  fellow,  with  reddish  hair  and 
beard  and  a  powerful  underjaw.  Looks  like  he'd  shoot  or  do 
anything  that  he  had  to.  I  didn't  admire  his  confident  air ;  he 
seemed  to  be  too  well  satisfied  with  himself." 

And  there  were  rumors,  too,  that  Bostwick  was  on  the  trail 
of  several  suspects,  whose  apprehension  could  only  be  a  ques- 


176  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

tion  of  a  few  hours'  time,  but  Ives  did  not  learn  who  the  sus- 
pects were. 

Then  Fox  relapsed  into  a  thoughtful  mood,  and  drummed 
softly  on  the  arm  of  his  chair.  Finally  he  said : 

"We  leave  for  New  York  at  once,  Sam.  We  must  see 
Roberts." 

Now,  when  Akers  and  the  Farnum  got  back  from  the  west, 
taking  counsel  with  each  other  on  the  way,  they  were  greatly 
encouraged  over  the  possibilities  of  the  future.  They  were  in  a 
frame  of  mind  not  unlike  that  of  a  prospector,  who,  after  be- 
ing grubstaked  most  of  his  life,  suddenly  comes  upon  a  rich 
vein  of  shining  ore  that  juts  out  in  globules  as  if  it  were  so 
plenty  that  the  quartz  rock  couldn't  retain  it.  The  old  miner's 
dream  has  been  realized  at  last !  He  knows  that  the  rhino  is 
there,  plenty  of  it,  although  the  exposed  shoot  has  not  yet  been 
developed.  How  beautiful  the  world  now  appears  to  him! 
How  sweet  the  memory  of  his  years  of  hardship !  Already  he 
is  a  millionaire ;  he'll  buy  Jem  Smith's  "joint,"  remove  the  slab 
counter  and  give  the  boys  free  access  to  the  red  liquor.  After 
that  he  will  go  east  and  show  the  swells  how  to  enjoy  life.  In 
fact,  the  prospector  is  happier  than  if  he  were  a  real  millionaire. 

So,  Andy  told  Eva  they  would  now  proceed  to  follow  their 
newly  discovered  lead  to  the  bottom  of  the  earth. 

"Just  leave  it  to  me,"  he  said.  "I'll  be  square.  You'll  wear 
more  diamonds  than  you  ever  saw  before,  and  you  can  raise  the 
bridge  limit  so  high  it  will  shut  out  the  pikers." 

"You  know  that  I  love  only  my  dear  old  Andy,  don't  you, 
dear?"  said  she  in  mellow  tones. 

"I've  sometimes  thought  so,  and  again  I've  had  my  doubts, 
Eva."  So  might  Eph  Fox  have  had  his  doubts  not  many  days 
agone ! 

"How  can  you  be  so  cruel  as  to  misjudge  me,  Andy !"  Eva 
was  deeply  hurt. 


THE     NEW     GOLDEN     RULE  177 

Then  they  retired  to  the  dining  car  and  cracked  another  cold 
bottle,  for  they  were  flush  with  spoil. 

After  Ives  left  Giddings  in  Washington,  beseeching  him  to 
keep  an  eye  on  the  Englishman,  Giddings  sent  for  Akers  to 
come  over  from  the  shore.  He  told  him  of  Ives'  apprehensions 
and  of  his  own  investigations  and  surmises. 

"And  Sam  Ives  is  getting  nervous,  is  he?"  said  Andy,  laugh- 
ing in  exultant  fashion.  "Maybe  they  will  find  him,  Bill. 
Maybe  they  will." 

"It  looks  like  it,"  replied  Giddings. 

"Maybe  they  will,"  repeated  Akers. 

"And  if  they  should?"  inquired  Giddings. 

"Say,  Bill,  do  you  want  him  to  come  back?" 

"Someone  higher  up  does,"  replied  Giddings. 

"Then  someone's  a  fool!"  exclaimed  Akers.  "I  don't;  no 
more  do  you.  We're  partners,  Bill,  all  of  us.  My  liberty's 
sweet;  so's  yours;  so's  theirs.  Already  the  people  are  forget- 
ting about  it.  They  will  take  notice  again,  if  he  comes  back." 

"What  is  your  plan?"  inquired  Giddings,  nervously  stroking 
his  chin. 

"It's  working  now;  it's  been  at  work  two  weeks.  He  won't 
come  back,  Bill!" 

This  announcement  by  the  man  who  had  had  the  nerve  to 
undertake  Twain's  abduction  produced  the  desired  effect  upon 
Giddings.  He  didn't  reply,  except  to  say  that  Andy  was  a 
masterpiece  of  erudition.  Again  he  told  him  that  he  had 
enough  brains  to  be  at  the  top  of  his  profession.  Giddings 
wanted  time  in  which  to  think;  yet  he  didn't  tell  Akers  of  his 
forebodings,  nor  chide  him  for  the  measures  he  had  seemingly 
adopted  on  his  own  account  to  prevent  the  return  of  Twain. 

And  now,  for  a  short  time,  we  must  take  leave  of  Mr.  Akers 
and  his  pals.  Fox  and  Ives  would  not  enjoy  this  distinction. 
If  it  could  be  managed  otherwise,  they  nevermore  would  appear 


178  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

in  these  pages.  And,  although  they  may  not  be  brought  to 
account  for  their  transgressions,  not  in  the  usual  way,  by  court 
processes,  with  bailiff  and  bondsmen  to  help  them,  it  is  well 
that  there  are  other  ways  of  apprehending  abductors,  with 
Nemesis  never  asleep  and  men  of  the  like  of  Arthur  Grey, 
Ralph  Bolston  and  Dick  Bostwick  always  awake. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

RUNNING    FOR   THE   SENATE 

Forearmed  denizens  of  Washington  provide  early  against  the 
coming  of  the  "dog  days."  By  the  time  this  period  of  flaccidity 
arrives  those  who  can  afford  to  take  themselves  to  the  near-by 
mountains  or  the  more  northerly  summertime  resorts  along  the 
seacoast,  or  by  the  great  lakes,  have  closed  their  houses  or 
abandoned  their  apartments  in  the  hotels,  having  first  deposited 
milady's  furs  and  fine  rugs  at  some  place  of  safety  supposed  to 
be  proof  against  the  cupidity  of  burglars  and  the  voracity  of 
moths. 

I  am  speaking  now  of  the  unofficial  set — of  those  that  have 
no  public  duties — who  are  free  to  come  and  go,  with  no  cen- 
sorial eye  to  follow  them,  nor  critical  constituents  to  please. 
This  set  in  Washington  enjoys  its  exclusiveness.  It  is  non- 
partisan  and  non-political  because  of  its  disfranchisement ;  the 
people  of  Washington  do  not  vote ;  they  are  not  troubled  with 
elections.  Therefore,  they  need  take  no  personal  interest  in 
politics — a  happy  lot,  indeed !  In  their  estimation,  one  adminis- 
tration is  as  good  as  another.  Nor  does  the  coming  of  a  new 
one — except  as  its  foreshadowed  policies  may  affect  dividends 
on  their  bonds  and  stocks  or  the  price  of  suburban  acres  in 
which  they  may  have  been  induced  by  realty  agents  to  put  some 
ready  money — concern  them  perceptibly. 

I  cannot  say  the  female  members  of  this  aristocratic  class — 


180  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  old  families  that  pride  themselves  upon  their  freedom  from 
snobbishness — do  not  partake  of  the  common  interest  in  the 
latest  mistress  of  the  White  House,  who  has  been  heralded  as 
the  most  beautiful  and  refined  of  ladies.  (This  is  always  true 
of  the  President's  wife.)  And  so  they  will  all  be  there  when 
the  winter  receptions  come  round,  provided  they  have  succeeded 
in  being  remembered  when  the  invitations  are  sent  out,  to  see 
for  themselves,  reserving  their  opinions,  to  be  sure,  for  their 
own  exclusive  circle,  where  the  pomp  of  this  administration 
will  be  compared  with  that  of  former  ones  as  far  back  as  the 
time  when  Dolly  Madison's  beauty  and  brilliancy  enthralled 
the  statesmen  that  hung  admiringly  about  her  throne. 

And  how  generous  these  very  excellent  people !  seldom  con- 
demning anyone,  but  rather  commending  everyone  for  their 
fortitude,  under  trying  circumstances;  always  sympathizing 
with  "the  first  lady  of  the  land"  and  the  wives  of  the  various 
secretaries  who  assist  her  in  doing  the  honors  at  the  great  func- 
tions— an  example  of  good  breeding,  indeed,  in  these  cavilling 
democratic  times,  that  deserves  recognition. 

Then,  there  is  another  set,  the  most  considerable  in  number 
at  the  Capital — the  government  employes,  some  thirty  thou- 
sand at  least — that  must  have  its  summer  holiday.  These  work- 
ers go  no  great  distance  away,  for  most  of  them  have  a  hard 
time  of  it  all  the  year  saving  enough  from  their  not  over  large 
salaries  for  railroad  fare  and  the  upset  rates  at  the  resort 
boarding  houses,  where,  to  be  sure,  they  must  indulge  seasonable 
finery,  else  they,  particularly  the  women,  will  be  overlooked  in 
the  passing  throng. 

If  we  have  found  something  to  admire  in  those  having  the 
means  to  be  "nice,"  here,  alas !  are  we  met  with  much  to  excite 
our  pity.  What  an  institution  it  is  that  invites  you  to  a  life  of 
servitude  as  a  government  clerk !  How  poor  the  compensation, 
even  though  it  does  "keep  the  wolf  away,"  if  men  are  to  be 


RUNNING     FOR     THE     SENATE  181 

unmanned  and  women  condemned  to  oldmaidhood ;  for  that, 
after  all,  is  the  fearful  price  one  is  likely  to  pay  in  such  service. 
The  man,  if  he  would  keep  his  name  on  the  payroll,  must  have 
no  opinions  about  anything,  not  even  his  work,  for  this  is  done 
under  rules  that  come  out  of  a  machine  as  does  a  bolt  of 
calico. 

Once  a  friend  of  mine  was  descanting  to  me  upon  the  per- 
fection of  the  linotype,  the  wonderful  thing  that  sets  the  letters 
for  these  pages. 

"Isn't  it  marvelous,"  said  he.    "It  fairly  thinks." 

It  is  different,  let  me  say,  with  that  piece  of  mechanism  that 
makes  rules  and  prescribes  the  duties  of  government  clerks,  for 
this  one  does  not  think;  it  acts  automatically,  and,  considering 
that  its  parts  are  all  human,  the  action  is  most  unintellectual. 
Hence  the  automatic  nature  of  its  product — the  thirty  thou- 
sand— who  consider  it  a  reflection  upon  the  involuntary  insti- 
tution, the  Civil  Service  Commission,  I  might  as  well  say  it,  to 
which  they  owe  their  appointment,  if  they  give  overmuch 
attention  to  the  display  of  acumen.  So  that  they  become  mere 
machines.  And  who  blames  them?  Not  I.  Their  leave  of 
absence,  their  period  of  recreation,  partakes  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  their  life-tenure  servitude,  which  is  a  sort  of  civilized 
emasculation.  If  one  of  them  marries  another,  the  tenure  of 
the  one  or  the  other  is  put  in  jeopardy,  with  two  mouths  to  feed 
on  a  single  salary,  and  the  constant  danger  of  family  increase. 
•What  an  inducement  to  race  suicide,  too! — more  reprehensible 
even  than  animal  slaughter  in  the  jungle.  Yes,  these  poor 
celibates  have  their  holiday,  too,  and  they  are  dreary  enough. 

But  the  most  pathetic  victims  of  Washington's  heated  term 
are  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  Congressional  circle,  which 
includes  both  houses;  although  some  of  my  readers  have 
fallen  into  the  habit  of  speaking  of  members  of  the  House 
as  "Congressmen" — which,  indeed,  they  are.  But  the  House 


182  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

is  not  the  whole  of  Congress,  dear  reader,  the  Senate  being  one 
branch  of  it;  and  the  heat  affects  both  houses  alike,  as  was 
demonstrated  most  painfully  when  thejSenate  awaited  the  return 
of  Twain.  As  I  have  said,  it  falls  largely  to  the  women  of 
the  Congressional  set  to  do  the  social  honors.  To  most  of  them 
this  is  a  very  pleasant  duty  during  the  winter  months ;  but, 
long  before  the  sun  has  crossed  the  equatorial  line,  society's 
demands  have  come  to  be  tremendously  irksome  to  those  who 
hail  from  the  north.  Washington  summers,  though,  do  not 
drive  the  fair  southerners  away.  The  ladies  whose  husbands  or 
fathers,  as  the  case  may  be,  represent  northeastern  districts  may 
return  to  their  homes  with  but  little  inconvenience  or  waste 
of-  time;  but  those  from  the  far  west,  being  new  to  the 
business,  as  a  rule,  owing  to  the  frequent  changes  under  the 
primary  election  system,  usually  remain  until  the  end  of  the 
long  sessions  of  alternate  years.  Having  now  acquired  a  taste 
for  the  shallow  thing,  and  being  so  far  away  from  home,  they 
stay  on  to  the  end.  These,  then,  are  the  real  heat  sufferers. 

Nor  will  sunstroke,  even,  discourage  Mrs.  Barleysheaf,  of 
the  House.  How  perfectly  one's  attire  sometimes  fits  one's 
name !  Finding  small  opportunity,  as  she  thinks,  to  satisfy 
her  social  ambition  as  the  wife  of  a  mere  member,  long  before 
the  trees  have  leaved  upon  her  first  Washington  season  she  has 
discovered  that  her  distinguished  husband  really  belongs  in  the 
Senate,  and  this  discovery  has  been  duly  imparted  to  him.  At 
first  he  does  not  take  kindly  to  the  suggestion,  on  account  of 
the  expense.  But  soon  he,  too,  makes  a  discovery,  which  is — 
that  the  House  can  never  be  anything  more  than  "a  mere  mob." 
Think  of  the  numerous  bills  he  has  dropped  into  the  big  box  at 
the  Speaker's  desk,  and  as  yet  not  one  of  them  has  come  out  of 
committee !  Surely,  this  is  no  place  for  such  genius  as  his. 

Nor  have  the  names  of  Representative  and  Mrs.  Benjamin 
Barleysheaf  appeared  as  yet  in  the  newspapers  as  the  dinner 


RUNNING     FOR     THE     SENATE  183 

guests  of  the  President,  nor  of  any  member  of  the  Cabinet. 
They  have  dined  out  but  once  since  their  arrival  six  months  ago. 
That  was  on  the  occasion  of  Millionaire  Senator  Koppinger's 
elaborate  spread  at  the  largest  hotel,  when  all  of  Congress  were 
present  and  many  others  of  less  consequence.  It  was  very  kind 
of  Koppinger  to  invite  them,  to  be  sure,  but  how  else  could  it 
have  happened  when  the  senator's  secretary  wrote  the  invita- 
tions so  as  to  include  the  names  of  all  senators  and  members 
and  their  wives  or  daughters  as  he  found  them  printed  out  in  the 
Congressional  Directory? 

And  the  Honorable  Ben  Barleysheaf  takes  early  counsel  with 
"Mrs.  B."  (his  way  of  introducing  her).  We  have  known  all 
along  that  he  would  come  to  it ! 

"It  will  cost  us  like  blazes,  my  dear,"  he  protests. 

"Suppose  it  does;  it's  worth  it.     Besides,  we  may  never  have- 
another  chance,  and  what  is  money  for,  anyway?" 

So  the  Honorable  Ben  is  persuaded.  He  bustles  about,- 
reads  the  census  statistics  and  the  agricultural  reports,  getting 
ready  to  make  a  great  speech  "to  the  mob  on  the  hill."  What 
boots  it  if  his  colleagues  retire  to  the  cloakrooms  while  he 
reads  it  nervously  from  his  place  on  the  floor?  He  will  not 
send  out  in  franked  envelopes  to  his  constituents  any  less  num- 
ber of  the  great  effort  on  that  account,  you  may  be  sure.  The 
heat  has  no  terrors  for  either  of  them  now.  They  are  running 
for  the  Senate,  which  body,  of  course,  awaits  their  coming  in 
deepest  anxiety.  So  also  do  the  politicians  and  the  country 
editors  in  the  Honorable  Barleysheaf's  state.  And  Mrs.  B. 
plumes  herself  accordingly.  She  will  show  "those  stuckups"  at 
the  White  House  who  haven't  bidden  the  Barleysheafs  to 
dinner,  so  she  will,  and  that  Mrs.  Ole  O'Margarine  from  the 
middle  west,  too,  who  gave  a  great  reception  recently  that 
Mrs.  B.  knew  about  only  at  second  hand. 

Well,  the  Barleysheafs  were  now  come  to  the  Senate.     It  has 


184  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

cost  them  nearly  all  of  their  life's  savings,  and  still  some  of  the 
local  editors  at  home  persist  in  referring  to  the  now  dis- 
tinguished statesman  as  "a  mighty  tight  wad."  Yes,  they  were 
now  in  the  Senate,  and  the  Honorable  Ben  selected  his  com- 
mittee-room far  down  in  the  Crypt,  where  Bill  Giddings  went 
on  a  certain  occasion  to  make  sure,  by  the  oracular  word  of  an 
ancient  employe,  that  the  body  would  take  a  vote  on  the  Pur- 
chase bill  on  a  day  certain. 

And  Mrs.  B.  lost  no  time,  you  may  depend  upon  it,  in  mak- 
ing her  first  official  calls  at  senator's  houses,  and  on  the  wives 
of  Cabinet  ministers,  and  at  the  foreign  legations,  even  at  the 
White  House.  She  looks  askance  on  her  old  acquaintances  of 
the  House,  and  cuts  Mrs.  Ole  O'Margarine  dead  the  very  first 
opportunity.  She  is  a  senator's  wife,  and  has  begun  to  climb 
the  social  ladder.  When  the  heat  comes  again  she  will  not 
linger  at  the  Capital,  but  will  go  to  Atlantic  City.  Another 
•two  years  she  will  have  learned  that  this  is  not  considered  to 
be  "en  regie,"  or,  perhaps,  "au  fait"  and  this  time  she  will  hie 
herself  to  Bar  Harbor,  or,  if  the  crops  have  been  good  at  home 
and  the  farmers  have  paid  their  interest  at  Barleysheaf's  bank, 
in  such  case  she  will  go  to  Narragansett  Pier,  where  she  can 
take  a  practical  look  at  the  Newporters.  Sic  iter  ad  astra, 
which,  for  the  convenience  of  Mrs.  Barleysheaf,  may  be  trans- 
lated, "Such  is  the  way  to  the  stars." 

So,  also,  did  John  Koppinger  and  Ralph  Bolston  make  some 
hasty  plans  against  the  coming  of  the  dog  days.  They  took 
themselves  to  the  Blue  Ridge  Hotel,  near  Ashhurst,  but  not  on 
the  same  train,  as  happened  when  they  went  to  Boston;  yet, 
neither  knew  that  the  other  intended  to  make  this  place  his 
home  for  the  summer.  Bolston,  however,  was  not  surprised 
to  meet  Koppinger  there,  for  he  knew  now  of  the  senator's 
hurried  visit  to  the  Greys  to  tell  them  of  the  slander  that  was 
being  circulated  against  Twain,  and  no  longer  had  he  any 


RUNNING     FOR     THE     SENATE  185 

doubt  about  the  tender  aspirations  of  the  distinguished  bachelor 
senator,  deplore  it  as  much  as  he  would.  What  nettled  him 
almost  to  the  point  of  breaking  with  Koppinger  entirely,  and 
frankly  telling  him  so,  was  that  the  senator  should  not  at  least 
make  an  effort  to  hide  his  infatuation,  out  of  a  decent  regard 
for  Twain.  After  all,  what  business  was  it  of  Bolston's.  he 
asked  himself?  But  was  there  any  reason  why  he  should  lose 
faith  in  Enid  Grey?  None  whatsoever.  Had  she  not  rescued 
Twain's  name  from  calumny?  Was  there  any  act  or  word  of 
hers  that  suggested  disloyalty?  Not  a  move  nor  a  sign  upon 
which  John  Koppinger  could  base  the  shadow  of  a  hope  for 
recognition  of  his  strange  purpose — his  insinuating  passion. 

Thus  the  summer  months  went  by,  with  no  amelioration  of 
the  depressing  gloom  enshrouding  the  minds  of  Cornelius 
Twain's  anxious  friends;  no  surcease  of  pain  in  Enid  Grey's 
despondent  heart.  October  came  with  its  chill  rains,  and  its 
cloak  of  brilliant  verdure  enwrapping  the  silent  woods.  The 
Greys  and  the  Holts  were  among  the  last  to  quit  the  Blue 
Ridges.  Koppinger  and  Bolston,  having  maintained  an  agree- 
able truce,  so  far  as  open  expressions  of  their  feelings  were 
concerned,  and  having  seen  less  of  each  other  all  these  weeks 
than  might  be  expected  of  two  old  acquaintances,  departed 
separately,  as  they  had  come,  the  Englishman  returning  to  the 
Capital  and  the  senator  going  to  New  York,  for  the  corpora- 
tion boards  were  beginning  to  meet  in  Jersey  City  and  Newark 
again. 

Out  in  the  west,  in  Senators  Twain's  state,  the  primaries  had 
been  held,  Sloane  receiving  the  nomination  for  senator.  This 
came  about  in  a  peculiar  and  somewhat  unexpected  way.  As 
has  been  said,  there  were  two  aspirants  for  the  place — Parsons 
and  Sloane.  As  the  campaign  progressed  the  people  began  to 
ask  questions.  If  both  Parsons  and  Sloane  were  the  true  friends 
of  Twain  that  they  said  they  were,  why  should  either  of  them 


186  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

seek  to  displace  him  in  the  Senate?  And  yet,  Twain  was  not 
at  home  to  personally  file  his  petition  as  required  under  the  pri- 
mary law. 

Now,  with  Dick  Sheridan,  the  friend  of  Sloane,  as  the  only 
aspirant  for  governor,  the  Conservatives  seemed  to  have  the 
advantage.  Cyrus  Shirley,  Parsons'  campaign  manager,  fore- 
saw the  danger  and  called  his  chief's  attention  to  it.  A  hurried 
conference  of  leaders  was  held,  with  the  result  that  Parsons 
withdrew  from  the  senatorial  race  and  filed  for  governor  against 
Sheridan,  leaving  Sloane  a  clear  field. 

It  was  extremely  hard  to  make  Parsons'  many  friends 
throughout  the  state  see  and  understand  that  this  was  a  wise 
thing  to  do,  for  there  were  several  good  federal  jobs  that  a  few 
of  the  faithful  Progressives  wanted,  and  which  they  would  be 
unable  to  get  if  Parsons  didn't  go  to  the  Senate.  The  people, 
by  now,  were  recovering  from  their  surprise  on  learning  that, 
after  all,  the  Progressives  were  in  politics  for  the  sake  of  the 
offices.  It  had  long  been  generally  supposed  that  only  the 
wicked  old  Stalwarts  would  stoop  to  such  base  things,  this 
belief  being  freely  encouraged  by  the  Progressive  leaders  them- 
selves. But  there  are  many  surprises  in  politics. 

Well,  Cy  Shirley  finally  made  his  state,  county  and  precinct 
committeemen,  and  the  Progressive  editors  as  well,  see  that  if 
Parsons  defeated  Sheridan  for  governor  there  would  be  some- 
thing in  it  for  all  of  them  when  the  plum-tree  came  to  be 
shaken  at  the  state  capitol  in  January.  Besides,  it  was  agreed 
that  a  railroad  tax  bill  should  be  introduced  in  the  legislature. 
This  would  have  the  effect  of  keeping  the  railroad  lobby  busy 
against  the  choosing  of  a  senator. 

And  Shirley  had  another  motive,  but  this  one  he  said  nothing 
about,  not  even  to  Parsons.  The  average  person  who  reads 
these  lines  may  not  guess  it,  but  the  shrewd  politician  will.  So 
I  will  not  explain  just  now,  because  the  dear  average  reader  will 


RUNNING     FOR     THE     SENATE'  187 

skip  over  this  part  of  my  story  and  rush  on  in  the  hope  of  find- 
ing more  exciting  things  in  later  chapters,  while  my  equally 
dear  young  friends  who  would  measure  the  value  of  this  vol- 
ume by  the  amount  of  sentiment  in  it  are  likely  to  do  the  same 
thing.  And  the  matter  being  easily  fathomed  by  the  politi- 
cians, why,  indeed,  should  I  dwell  further  upon  the  subject,  ex- 
cept to  repeat  that  Sloane  got  the  nomination  for  senator,  and 
to  add  that  Parsons  defeated  Sheridan  for  governor?  All  this 
is  very  simple  to  those  who  understand  or  care  about  it. 

And  so  the  twin  nuisances,  the  dog  days  and  the  primaries, 
being  past,  there  was  little  to  thrill  the  popular  imagination 
during  the  next  few  weeks,  unless  it  be  the  dubious  reports  sent 
out  by  brokerage  houses  in  regard  to  the  shortage  in  the  grain 
crop  at  home  and  the  longage  of  it  abroad,  or  vice  versa;  it 
makes  no  difference,  except  to  the  honest  trader,  who  believes 
the  morning  bulletins  on  brokers'  tables  that  tell  you  the  for- 
eign market  is  bearish  or  that  it  is  bullish,  but  that  the  gross 
earnings  of  the  railroads  have  increased;  and  you  buy  or  sell, 
if  you  are  in  that  kind  of  business,  and  regret  it,  whichever  you 
do,  the  next  minute. 

In  another  month,  with  the  least  amount  of  campaign  con- 
fusion and  excitement  that  can  be  imagined,  considering  the 
momentous  issues  involved,  the  great  election  was  over,  and 
Page  Bannister  was  the  choice  for  President  of  the  Republic. 
Captain  Mikleskoff  was  down  from  the  Blue  Ridge  long  be- 
fore this.  Indeed,  he  was  at  the  Holt  residence  in  Washington 
when  the  news  came,  and  watched  Margaret's  face  as  she  read 
the  returns.  He  must  have  thought  it  very  strange  she  should 
evince  such  deep  interest  in  the  result,  but  when  she  remarked 
that  her  brother  Stephen  had  challenged  her  for  a  wager  of  a 
dozen  pairs  of  gloves  that  the  Conservative  candidate  would  be 
elected  and  she  had  taken  the  bet,  "just  to  punish  Stephen  for 
meddling  in  politics,"  which  she  abhorred,  perforce  the  smitten 


188  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Russian  was  obliged  to  believe  her.  Still,  her  anxiety  in  be- 
half of  her  brother's  tendencies  gave  the  Captain  some  uneasi- 
ness, and  he  made  pretense  of  condoling  with  her ;  whereat  she 
laughed  joyously. 

But  Margaret's  exultation  over  the  winning  of  the  box  of 
gloves  from  Stephen  gave  way  to  a  feeling  of  great  sadness 
when,  the  morning  after  Page  Bannister's  election,  word  came 
to  her  that  Enid  Grey  was  seriously  ill.  She  went  at  once  to 
see  her,  and,  canceling  all  other  engagements,  remained  for 
days  at  the  bedside  of  her  friend,  dividing  unselfishly  with  a 
trained  nurse  the  duties  belonging  to  the  sickroom — an  exhibi- 
tion of  friendship,  indeed,  only  those  who  are  stricken  in  body 
and  in  heart,  as  was  this  long-suffering  woman,  can  fully  appre- 
ciate. The  nature  of  Enid's  malady  was  not  such  as  to  give 
rise  to  immediate  alarm ;  still,  it  was  sufficiently  grave  to  warn 
her  physicians,  who  advised  a  change  of  scene  and  air  for  her. 
But  this  could  not  be  effected  at  once;  it  would  be  unwise  to 
undertake  her  removal  from  the  bed  in  which  she  now  lay  in  a 
pitiable  state  of  physical  debility  and  mental  exhaustion. 

Dame  Gossip  soon  came  to  know  of  the  Russian  Captain's 
disturbed  state  of  mind;  whereupon  society's  devotees,  far  in 
advance  of  fact,  as  usual,  folded  their  arms  in  patient  waiting 
for  the  announcement  of  Margaret  Holt's  engagement  to  the 
President-elect.  They  also  turned  to  analyzing  its  portentous 
effects  upon  the  body  politic.  Again  the  opinions  and  com- 
ments of  the  dowager  set,  as  when  Cornelius  Twain  first  met 
and  was  attracted  to  Enid  Grey,  found  interesting  expression. 

"It  is  quite  shocking  even  to  think  of  it,"  exclaimed  one  of 
these  delightful  antiquaries,  who  was  eking  out  an  existence  on 
the  income  of  something  like  twenty-five  million  of  dollars. 
This  sum  had  been  accumulated  and  considerately  invested  by 
her  late  lamented  husband,  who,  in  his  day,  was  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  circles  of  consolidation. 


RUNNING     FOR     THE     SENATE  189 

"It  is  an  alliance  between  democracy  and  decency  under  the 
banner  of  Altrocracy — a  party  that  seeks  to  install  the  mob  in 
power,"  she  continued.  "It  is  a  foretokening  of  the  end  of 
Dividends,  and  soon  one  will  be  obliged  to  return  to  one's  cast 
off  apparel  if  one  would  maintain  respectability.  Whither,  alas ! 
are  we  drifting?" 

"Be  not  discouraged,  dear,"  replied  a  sympathetic  exhibit  of 
the  glitter  period.  "If  Margaret  Holt  has  inherited  the  genius 
of  her  indefatigable  father  she  may  redeem  the  place  of  politi- 
cal power  from  the  hands  of  the  proletarian  invaders  and  bring 
about  the  redemption  of  the  industrial  empire  now  threatened 
with  dissolution." 

"How  fortunate,  indeed,"  remarked  a  third,  "if  the  new 
President,  under  the  Holt  influence,  is  made  to  realize  the  error 
of  his  way.  In  his  infatuation  for  the  charming  blonde,  he 
may  forget  to  confiscate  our  property,  to  be  distributed  among 
the  socialistic  dreamers  who  brought  about  his  election.  May 
she  prove  to  possess  the  wisdom  of  Minerva.  Let  us  continue 
to  hope.  All  is  not  lost." 

If  these  delightful  monitors,  whose  most  arduous  task,  aside 
from  their  appointments  with  their  milliners  and  as  the  regu- 
lators of  heart  throbs  in  Capital  society,  was  the  cutting  of 
coupons  from  gilt-edged  securities  with  diamond-studded  gold 
scissors,  were  as  near  the  mark  in  their  predictions  regarding 
politico-economic  conditions  as  in  their  present  speculations 
concerning  Margaret  Holt  and  Page  Bannister,  there  would  be 
no  disturbance  in  business  circles — none  whatever. 

It  would  not  be  in  keeping  with  a  few  thoughts  intended  to 
be  conveyed  in  these  pages,  however,  if  it  could  not  be  said 
that,  with  the  coming  of  Altrocratic  success,  there  came  also  a 
noticeable  abatement  in  the  prevailing  social  gatherings  of  those 
boorish  displays  so  prominent  during  the  heyday  of  glitter,  sug- 


190  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

gesting  the  competitive  spirit  aroused  at  a  county  fair,  where 
prizes  are  awarded  to  the  producers  of  abnormal  vegetables. 

Still,  there  was  a  modified  continuation  of  those  pleasing 
functions  of  the  more  refined  order,  where  were  met  the  not- 
ables of  both  sexes — women  whose  striking  beauty,  charm  of 
manner  and  tasty  gowns  served  to  stir  the  cultivated,  artistic 
senses,  and  men  distinguished  for  the  public  positions  of  honor 
they  occupied  or  upon  whom  other  good  fortune  was  bestowing 
its  benignant  smile. 

But  there  were  fewer  diamonds  or  other  jewels  about  the  fair 
necks  and  arms  and  upon  the  beautiful  hands  of  the  ladies; 
fewer  and  smaller  tiaras  in  their  hair — irrefutable  evidence,  in- 
deed, that  "the  coming  of  the  empire"  had  been  checked ;  a  sup- 
porting contribution  to  the  theory  that,  contrary  to  the  views  of 
them  that  fail  to  distinguish  between  artificial  prosperity  and 
actual  progress,  a  Republic,  if  it  is  to  endure,  must  have  its 
Lenten  season — a  period  of  national  sobriety,  of  mortification  to 
the  headlong  passions  upon  which  injustice  and  oppression  are 
erected. 

"A  propitious  era  of  simplicity,"  commented  my  Philosopher 
friend.  "No  more  do  we  see  those  hideous  electric  bulbs  among 
the  evergreens,  destroying  the  beauty  of  nature  with  their  garish 
light — a  flighty  whim  of  the  decorator,  forsooth !  whose  art  con- 
sists in  measuring  the  extent  to  which  he  may  lead  his  patrons 
into  the  depths  of  showy  extravagance;  no  wires  stabbing  the 
hearts  of  the  roses  and  carnations,  supporting  them  with  a 
painful  stiffness  that  leaves  one  to  wonder  if  they  are  not  im- 
ported because  of  their  greater  cost,  therein,  to  their  purchasers' 
minds,  excelling  the  natural  flowers." 

"Precisely,"  replied  my  Philosopher  friend's  friend.  "And 
you  must  have  noticed  that  Mrs.  Kaffir  Mine  has  discarded  from 
her  throat  the  enormous  gems  that  were  rounding  her  plump 
shoulders  with  their  weight  last  season." 


RUNNING     FOR     THE     SENATE  191 

"It  is  said,"  answered  my  friend  the  Philosopher,  "that  she 
has  converted  them  to  cash  with  which  to  endow  an  astronomical 
institution  for  the  education  of  the  Esquimo,  thus  fitting  these 
benighted  people  as  competent  witnesses  in  future  polar  expe- 
ditions." 

"An  altruistic  and  a  most  practical  beneficence  withal,"  wa* 
the  reply. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

AN  ANXIOUS  SKIPPER 

Now,  it  came  to  pass,  be  it  said  generously  and  to  their  entire 
credit,  that  the  doctors  had  correctly  diagnosed  Enid  Grey's 
ailment,  which  the  reader  has  already  surmised  was  really  of 
the  heart,  and  that  they  had  prescribed  wisely  in  directing  she 
be  given  a  change  of  air  and  surroundings.  Months  of  intense 
grief  and  almost  hopeless  mental  agony  had  reduced  her  to  a 
condition  amounting  almost  to  helplessness.  Under  the  loving 
care  of  the  happy,  light-hearted  Margaret  she  was  up  and  about 
again,  though  the  joy  of  living  could  never  return  against  the 
great  weight  that  was  bearing  her  down,  unless  the  cause  of  it 
were  removed.  To  say  the  truth,  Enid  Grey  was  upon  the  point 
of  permanent  invalidism.  How  sad  a  lot  for  one  so  young,  so 
talented  and  so  beautiful !  How  degrading  of  mankind  the 
means  which  brought  her  to  this  state!  It  was  pitiful  to  see 
her  in  affliction,  and  to  know  that  even  the  very  many  kindnesses 
at  hand — the  readiness  of  her  parents,  of  all  her  friends,  par- 
ticularly of  Margaret,  to  assist  her  by  every  possible  indul- 
gence— would  fail ;  to  know  what  the  inevitable  end  must  be. 

In  such  case  the  ministrations  of  a  gentle  mother,  the  cheer- 
ful words  of  a  fond  father,  are  more  soothing  and  helpful  than 
all  else.  These  she  had  as  few  other  daughters  within  my 
acquaintance.  Still,  as  medical  men  will  tell  you,  even  a  very 
great  remedy,  after  long  use  in  a  given  disease,  will  lose  its 


AN     ANXIOUS     SKIPPER  193 

potency.  It  was  so,  I  fear,  to  some  extent  at  least,  as  to  the 
loving  attentions  of  this  devoted  mother  and  this  anxious  father, 
who  spared  themselves  in  nowise  to  cheer  and  encourage  their 
desponding  child — for  by  now  she  was  but  little  more  than  a 
child  again;  whereas,  not  so  long  since,  a  more  complete  and 
perfect  woman  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  find. 

About  this  time  a  vague  rumor  came  from  Tampico,  Mexico, 
that  a  strange  man  bearing  some  resemblance  to  Senator  Twain 
had  been  seen,  more  than  two  months  ago,  at  that  port,  in  com- 
pany with  an  officer  of  a  tramp  steamer  that  sailed  the  coasts 
of  several  southern  Republics.  The  newspapers  made  much  of 
it  for  a  brief  time,  overlaying  the  story  with  big  red  headlines, 
and  the  little  paper  merchants  cried  their  wares  in  the  streets 
vociferously — "All  about  Sen'ter  Wayne  found."  Similar  sen- 
sational announcements  were  quite  common,  but  small  credence 
was  given  them.  Such  also  was  the  fate  of  this  the  most  recent 
rumor.  If  these  reports  served  any  purpose  it  was  to  arouse 
renewed  hope  in  the  breast  of  Enid  Grey,  only  to  have  it  dis- 
pelled again. 

Mrs.  Andrew  Holt  came  one  day  and  sat  with  Enid  fully  an 
hour,  which  was  a  long  time  for  this  good  lady  to  give  in  any 
cause,  except  her  own  and  the  fashionable  charities  in  which  she 
indulged.  It  must  have  been  a  stroke  of  genius  that  prompted 
Margaret  to  bring  her,  for  where  Margaret  herself  gently 
coaxed  the  shadows  to  flee  hence,  her  mother  always  compelled 
them  to  vanish  precipitately. 

"Enid  Grey,  I  am  surprised!" 

Thus  she  began,  after  some  time  spent  in  observing  the  pa- 
tient. Enid  looked  inquiringly  into  her  serious  face,  a  face,  in- 
deed, that  denoted  perspicuousness  and  considerable  determina- 
tion. It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that  Mrs.  Andrew  Holt  was  more 
practical  than  sentimental,  and  it  was  not  so  much  what  she  said 
as  her  way  of  saying  it  that  counted.  This  Enid  knew  before- 


194  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

hand,  but  the  good  woman  had  never  been  quite  so  impressive  as 
now,  the  invalid  thought.  She  knew  also  what  Mrs.  Holt 
meant  when  she  expressed  her  surprise,  because,  while  there 
was  much  emphasis  on  the  penultimate  of  the  last  word  in  the 
short  sentence,  there  were  no  imperfect  meanings  about  any  of 
it ;  and  Enid  Grey  was  a  percipient  creature,  too. 

"I  repeat,"  said  she,  after  a  pause  that  made  the  first  remark 
all  the  more  important,  "that  I  am  surprised.  How  very  ab- 
surd, my  dear,  that  a  grown  up  woman  like  you  should  be  sitting 
here  or  anywhere  else  mourning  herself  sick  about  a  man." 

"Gently,  mamma,"  said  Margaret.  "The  poor  dear  has  been 
so  very  ill." 

"Firmness  is  what  is  needed,  Margaret.  Think  of  what 
would  have  happened  to  you,  dear,  had  I  permitted  you  to 
mope  your  heart  out  over  that  Clarendon  chap  that  afterward 
ran  away  with  his  nurse." 

"Oh,  mother,  but  we  were  only  school  children,  and  he  was  so 
badly  hurt  in  that  runaway  accident — " 

"I  know,  Margaret,  my  dear,  but  you  lost  interest  in  every- 
thing after  that,  and  I  was  obliged  almost  to  force  you  away. 
When  we  got  back  from  the  Caribbean  you  had  quite  recovered 
both  your  health  and  your  reason,  to  be  sure.  Before  that  you 
were  an  invalid,  too." 

"And  am  I  an  invalid,  dear  Mrs.  Holt?"  asked  Enid  in  a 
pathetic  tone.  She  had  not  even  imagined  such  a  possibility 
until  now. 

"Yes,  Enid;  you  are  an  invalid.  The  truth  should  be  told 
always;  besides,  it  is  a  matter  that  concerns  you  personally.  If 
I  were  about  to  die  I  should  want  them  to  tell  me  so  frankly. 
I  would  then  show  them  that  they  were  mistaken  and  get  well. 
It's  your  only  chance,  my  dear." 

"But,  mother,  Enid  is  not  yet  at  the  point  of  death,"  said 
Margaret,  laughingly. 


AN     ANXIOUS     SKIPPER  195 

"And  if  she  were  I  cannot  imagine  a  more  unsatisfactory  end- 
ing than  being  killed  in  this  way,  merely  by  love  for  a  man." 

This  plain,  practical  talk  about  invalidism  and  death  must 
have  had  the  effect  of  arousing  Enid  from  her  trance — of  call- 
ing her  mind  back  from  the  clouds — for  thereafter  she  showed 
greater  spirit,  and  talked  of  going  away  to  some  place  that 
would  not  remind  her  of  her  misery. 

"I  have  a  splendid  idea,  mother !"  exclaimed  Margaret.  "We 
will  go  to  the  Caribbean  again,  and  take  Enid." 

"Something  ought  to  be  done,  to  be  sure;  and  I  cannot  see 
why  we  should  remain  here  the  winter  through,  killing  our- 
selves with  dinners,  receptions  and  such  other  tomfoolery  that 
they  call  society.  I  detest  it  all.  Besides,  Andrew  is  away 
most  of  the  time  in  that  awful  dirigible  of  his.  He  alights 
here  once  a  week,  perhaps,  for  breakfast,  and  by  evening  is  off 
again  for  the  skies.  And  now  Stephen,  the  reckless  dear  boy, 
has  one  of  the  things,  too,  and  will  be  sailing  to  Perdition,  I 
suppose,  if  there  is  such  a  place.  The  more  wealth  the  less 
happiness  one  has,  as  I  have  so  often  said  to  Andrew." 

"And  the  yacht  is  so  very  comfortable,  mamma,"  suggested 
Margaret. 

"To  be  sure,"  responded  her  good  mother. 

Then  Margaret  referred  casually  to  the  rumor,  the  subject  of 
the  big  red  headlines,  adding  that  there  was  the  possibility  of 
learning  something  more  definite  about  it  when  the  "Penelope" 
reached  Caribbean  waters. 

Mrs.  Holt  had  not  read  the  story — "there  is  so  much  in  the 
newspapers  that  is  unreliable.  But,"  she  continued,  "I  have 
even  less  faith  in  the  government  officials  who  are  searching  for 
him,  or  pretending  to  do  so.  To  be  sure,  Margaret,  we  can  be 
off  by  Monday  morning,  and  I  do  hope  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grey 
will  come  with  us." 


196     ,          THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"I  am  sure  father  and  mother  will  be  greatly  pleased,"  said 
Enid. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  Enid  Grey  was  to  be  carried  to  the 
Caribbean  for  her  health  in  the  famous  "Penelope,"  the  magni- 
ficent yacht  of  the  multi-millionaire  Holt.  But  the  date  that 
Mrs.  Holt  had  fixed  for  its  sailing  was  so  near  at  hand,  Mar- 
garet expressed  some  doubt  about  being  ready  by  then.  Per- 
haps she  had  in  mind  the  fate  of  the  love-lorn  Russian,  who, 
she  well  knew,  would  not  permit  a  single  precious  day  to  pass 
without  seeing  her,  that  he  might  pour  out  his  devotion  again 
and  again.  She  knew,  too,  he  would  be  "terribly  upset"  on 
learning  that  she  was  going  away  for  an  indefinite  period  of 
time,  and  that  he  might  even  want  to  go  with  them,  which  she 
at  once  decided  must  not  be  thought  of  seriously.  Still,  good 
fortune  seemed  to  favor  her,  for,  even  while  she  and  her  mother 
were  leaving  the  Greys,  Stephen  came  speeding  along  in  his 
auto.  Of  course  he  did  not  know  of  the  proposed  Caribbean 
voyage,  and,  being  too  intent  upon  his  own  plans  to  hear  what 
Margaret  was  about  to  say,  he  launched  forth  enthusiastically 
on  his  new  dirigible  and  his  wonderful  navigator. 

"He's  a  Russian,  Margy,  a  great  artist  in  sailing  the  beautiful 
airship,  and  has  just  been  proposing  that  we  fly  to  the  north 
pole.  No  little  sparrow  flights  for  him — not  for  Ivan  Petroff- 
sky !  He  wants  to  circumscribe  the  whole  demnition  globe,  and 
then  circle  her  again !" 

Poor  Mrs.  Holt .  All  that  she  could  find  tongue  to  say  was, 
"Stephen,  Stephen,  you  reckless  boy !" 

"Why  not  go  to  the  pole,  Stephen?"  said  Margaret,  encourag- 
ingly. "It  is  strange  that  the  Russians  have  not  accomplished 
it." 

"By  Jove !"  he  exclaimed.  "What  an  opportunity  for  the 
Captain  to  win  laurels  for  his  government  and  fame  for  him- 
self. I'll  suggest  it  to  him." 


AN     ANXIOUS     SKIPPER  197 

His  interest  in  the  new  airship  had  not  diminished  the  next 
morning,  when  he  assured  Margaret  that  "it's  the  north  pole 
or  bust.  Anyway,  we're  going  to  fly  in  that  direction,  even 
though  we  do  not  go  further  than  Etah.  Who  will  know  that 
we  didn't  go  all  the  way  to  the  pole?  If  anyone  doubts  it — 
well,  let  him  go  there  himself  and  look  for  our  footprints  in  the 
shifting  snows." 

When  Margaret  and  her  mother  were  arrived  at  their  palatial 
abode  near  Sheridan  Circle,  Clairisse,  the  housekeeper,  was  sum- 
moned. Directions  were  given  preparatory  to  the  voyage,  and 
the  captain  of  the  "Penelope"  was  notified  to  have  the  vessel  in 
readiness  promptly. 

"I  fear,"  said  Margaret,  "that  poor  Enid  was  not  greatly 
benefitted  by  being  told  she  was  an  invalid  and  that  the  result 
might  be  fatal  to  her." 

"Pooh !  She  is  in  no  danger  of  dying,  nor  of  being  an  in- 
valid either,  unless  by  too  much  pampering,"  replied  the  practi- 
cal lady.  "An  excess  of  sympathy,  Margaret ;  all  the  world  is 
bemoaning  her  fate  in  the  loss  of  her  lover.  I  saw  at  a  glance 
that  what  she  needed  was  to  be  aroused  to  her  own  predicament, 
her  mind  diverted  from  him.  Of  course  I  pity  her,  for  she  is  a 
very  sweet  girl,  but  pity  will  not  cure  her  heartache  nor  bring 
him  back.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  common  sense." 

Ah !  but  the  good  lady  did  not  know  the  heart  of  Enid  Grey. 
How  could  she  know  it?  In  her  own  girlhood  she  had  spent 
much  time  day-dreaming  of  wealth,  more  than  of  love;  and 
when  she  married  Andrew  Holt  it  was  after  satisfying  herself 
that  he  was  the  one  man  who  could  contribute  to  her  sordid 
aspirations.  Her  dreams  had  now  been  realized  in  the  fullest, 
and  much  more ;  but  great  wealth  had  long  since  begun  to  pall 
upon  her,  and  the  only  little  happinesses  coming  to  her  in  these 
her  days  of  affluence  were  such  as  I  have  already  indicated — 


198  .  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

directing  the  affairs  of  others  and  contributing  to  dubious  small 
charities. 

"Besides,"  she  continued,  "I've  been  thinking  of  what  the 
papers  said.  I  believe  he  is  in  Mexico,  and  that  we  shall  find 
him  there.  Who  knows  but  that  he  is  ill,  more  so  than  Enid, 
perhaps,  and  needs  our  help?  To  be  sure,  we  must  provide 
everything  for  his  comfort.  The  patient  sufferer  must  be  fam- 
ished for  want  of  something  good  to  eat,"  exclaimed  the  gen- 
erous woman.  "I  am  surprised  that  he  is  alive.  Those  Mexi- 
cans live  on  peppers,  corn  meal,  game  cocks  and  maguey. 
Think  of  feeding  a  sick  man  on  those  fighting  birds  with  their 
long  steel  spurs  and  their  bleeding  heads.  Ugh!" 

Whereupon  Mrs.  Holt  touched  a  button.  This  brought  her 
housekeeper,  who  was  again  directed  to  get  everything  ready, 
and  see  to  it  that  there  was  a  liberal  supply  of  fresh  fowl,  jams, 
jellies,  pickles,  hot- water  bottles,  an  alcohol  stove,  a  rubber  bath 
tub,  sponges,  towels,  coarse  and  fine. 

"Do  not  omit  anything,  Clairisse,  that  an  invalid  should  have 
about  him,  if  he  is  to  get  well.  Your  experience  as  a  nurse 
will  help  you  greatly  in  procuring  what  is  needed."  And  Clar- 
isse  put  in  many  things  that  even  her  mistress  did  not  enumerate. 

"Game  cocks,  indeed!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Holt,  addressing 
Margaret.  "It's  barbarous !  For  meat,  if  he  gets  meat  at  all, 
I  suppose  he  is  obliged  to  depend  upon  the  trophies  of  the  bull 
ring.  Ballooning,  bull  baiting  and  cock  fighting!  What  a 
world  we're  living  in,  Margaret." 

And  if  the  "Penelope's"  hold  was  not  amply  stored  with 
extra  provisions  when  the  yacht  sailed  away  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  thoughtful  Mrs.  Holt. 

Captain  Mikleskoff  was  at  the  pier,  and  fanned  the  frosty 
breezes  with  his  white  silk  handkerchief  until  the  yacht  was  out 
•of  his  sight.  Margaret  was  on  the  deck  in  the  meantime,  and 


AN     ANXIOUS     SKIPPER  199 

was  quite  sure  he  used  it  also  and  repeatedly  at  his  eyes.  She 
almost  reproached  herself  for  downright  cruelty. 

And  now,  in  furtherance  of  my  original  intention  that  truth 
should  be  the  presiding  genius  of  this  tale,  nor  partiality,  flat- 
tery, exculpation  nor  deception  to  mar  it,  the  fact  must  be  re- 
corded that  Ralph  Bolston  and  John  Koppinger,  leaving  Cap- 
tain Mikleskoff  solitary  and  alone  on  the  "Penelope's"  pier,  rode 
away  together  for  their  accustomed  haunts  in  the  city.  Neither 
of  them  attached  the  least  weight  to  the  story  from  Mexico, 
and  they  quite  agreed  that  Mrs.  Holt's  ardor  was  due  entirely 
to  her  woman's  way  of  persuading  Enid  Grey  to  go  abroad — a 
pretext,  indeed,  for  which  they  commended  her. 

But  they  were  scarcely  settled  in  their  places — the  English- 
man in  the  chancery  of  the  British  Embassy  and  the  senator  in 
his  committee-room  at  the  Capitol — when  they  were  summoned 
forthwith  to  the  White  House;  for  only  a  few  minutes  after 
the  "Penelope"  sailed  away  for  the  south  a  queer  visitor  called 
upon  the  President,  and  he  came  on  an  unusual  errand.  The 
President  was  alone,  and  found  it  difficult  to  conceal  his  aston- 
ishment that  the  very  strict  rules  in  regard  to  the  reception  of 
strangers  should  have  been  overcome  by  this  unusual  visitor,  or 
any  visitor,  at  that  particular  hour. 

"I  come  by  the  cars,  yer  honor,  as  quick  as  I  could,  so  I 
could  tell  you  I  didn't  know  he  was  stole." 

"To  whom  and  to  what  do  you  refer,  sir?"  was  the  Presi- 
dent's somewhat  severe  inquiry. 

"That  senator  what  I  took  south  on  the  'Myranda.'  " 

"Do  you  mean  Senator  Twain?"  asked  the  President,  making 
an  effort  at  composure. 

"That's  what  the  paper  said  his  name  was." 

"And  you  carried  him  to  Mexico?" 

"But  I  didn't  steal  him,  yer  honor.  He  got  aboard,  some- 
how, and  I  didn't  know  it  till  we  was  in  the  Lower  Chesapeake 


200  .  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

next  day.  Then  he  comes  on  deck  and  says  as  how  he  was 
hungry  and  wouldn't  be  carried  for  nothing,  and  paid  me  a  fine 
sum,  yer  honor,  which  I  don't  want.  Here  it  is." 

He  threw  a  roll  of  bills  on  the  big  mahogany  desk.  Then  he 
went  on : 

"I  meant  no  wrong,  yer  honor;  didn't  know  what  the  game 
was  till  I  got  round  to  Galveston  months  after  and  read  the 
paper  about  how  the  trusts  stole  him.  So  I  jumps  to  the  train 
as  quick  as  I  could,  not  wantin'  the  sins  of  them  tarnal  things 
on  my  soul.  Besides,  stealin'  people  is  bad  business,  yer  honor ; 
that's  how  mine  was  took.  I  know  the  feelin'." 

"And  what  is  your  name?" 

"Noggins — John  Noggins — Captain  John  Noggins,  of  the 
'Myranda.'  " 

The  President  touched  a  button ;  he  touched  it  with  unusual 
vigor.  His  secretary  came  in  haste. 

"Get  Chief  Bostwick,  Mr.  Grey,  or  Senator  Koppinger,  or 
Mr.  Bolston  right  off,"  he  whispered.  "Lose  no  time  about  it." 
Then,  turning  to  Noggins,  he  said  pleasantly :  "Sit  down,  Cap- 
tain." 

Noggins  looked  around  the  room,  in  doubt  as  to  which  seat 
to  take.  Indeed,  the  seats  were  so  big  and  soft-looking  that  he 
hesitated  about  taking  a  seat  at  all.  When  he  did  sit  down,  in 
a  most  cautious  manner,  his  two  hundred  and  odd  pounds  sank 
deeply  into  the  wide,  springy  upholstered  chair,  and  his  short 
legs  would  not  permit  his  feet  to  touch  the  floor.  He  struggled 
to  rise,  but  seemed  only  to  sink  deeper  into  the  Russia  leather. 

"Make  yourself  comfortable,"  said  the  President,  when  he 
observed  the  Captain's  embarrassment. 

"Thank  you  all  the  same,  yer  honor,  but  this  thing's  kind  o' 
choppy,  like  a  Caribbean  sou'wester  blowin'  up  Hatteras  way." 

The  President  directed  his  messenger  to  admit  Senators  Bax- 
ter and  Halsey,  who  were  waiting  outside.  The  two  senators, 


AN     ANXIOUS     SKIPPER  201 

notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  scarlet  press,  whether  right- 
fully or  wrongfully,  had  involved  them  in  a  cloud  of  suspicion, 
were  welcome  visitors  at  the  White  House.  The  President 
knew  them ;  the  general  public  did  not.  They  remained  not  to 
exceed  two  minutes.  Then  other  senators  and  several  members 
came  in  turn  to  discuss  affairs  of  state  with  the  chief  executive. 
"Affairs  of  state"  is  a  high-sounding  newspaper  expression. 
When  a  senator  or  member  discusses  affairs  of  state  at  the 
White  House  there  is  an  impression  outside  of  Washington 
that  he  must  wear  a  high  hat  and  Prince  Albert  coat,  and  that 
he  looks  wise  and  consequential.  But  Baxter  and  Halsey  wore 
short  coats  and  Derby  hats  on  this  occasion ;  they  were  in  work- 
aday habit.  And  it  was  unnecessary  for  them  to  look  wise  and 
consequential;  their  status  in  this  regard  had  been  fixed  long 
ago.  Indeed,  they  were  born  statesmen.  This  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage to  those  who  would  enter  on  public  life.  Not  all  the 
men  who  find  their  way  to  Washington  as  legislators  are  thus 
endowed.  Nor  did  these  distinguished  senators  talk  about 
affairs  of  state;  they  only  discussed  the  tariff — the  duty  on 
paper,  perhaps,  which  they  were  in  favor  of  increasing,  the 
President's  objections  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

"Them  fellers  do  business  mighty  quick,  yer  honor,"  said 
Noggins,  when  the  official  callers  had  gone.  "I've  seen  their 
pictu'rs  in  the  paper  many  a  time ;  feel  almost  acquainted  with 
'em.  That's  the  way  I  knowed  you.  Hope  I  ain't  introodin', 
yer  honor." 

"Not  at  all,  Captain.  Make  yourself  at  home,"  replied  the 
President  as  he  proceeded  to  sign  his  name  to  a  batch  of  impor- 
tant commissions  for  a  number  of  gentlemen  just  appointed  to 
office. 

Noggins  then  fell  to  wondering  how  he  happened  to  get  into 
such  big  company  so  very  easily,  and  how  different  these  men 
were  from  his  former  conception  of  them.  There  were  others 


202     _•         THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

coming  and  going  when  he  arrived  at  the  White  House,  and 
somehow  he  just  drifted  in  through  the  ante-rooms  with  senators 
and  members,  as  if  he  had  been  a  constituent  of  one  of  them, 
until  he  found  himself  decidedly  mixed  up  among  the  statesmen. 
When  the  door  of  the  President's  private  office  room  was  opened 
by  the  messenger  and  was  left  considerably  ajar,  while  the 
messenger  stepped  over  to  Senator  Baxter  to  say  the  President 
would  see  him  in  a  few  minutes,  Noggins  didn't  hesitate  to  walk 
directly  in  through  the  narrow  opening.  Before  the  messenger 
could  halt  him  he  had  arrived  at  the  President's  desk  and  was 
talking.  Of  course  no  one  familiar  with  the  rules  would  have 
done  so ;  but  this  was  Noggins'  first  visit  at  the  White  House. 

The  President  certainly  was  surprised;  yet  Noggins  wasn't 
abashed  the  least  particle.  It  had  been  a  habit  of  his  to  go 
straight  to  headquarters  with  important  problems.  This  was 
one  of  the  most  important  he  had  ever  met  with.  Therefore, 
when  he  read  in  the  Galveston  newspaper  of  the  strange  occur- 
rence, he  took  the  next  train  for  Washington,  first  directing  the 
mate,  when  he  sobered  up  and  the  "Myranda"  had  taken  on 
cargo,  to  proceed  to  other  ports. 

And  so  Koppinger  and  Bolston  being  summoned  to  the  White 
House,  Grey  having  gone  south,  as  we  have  seen,  and  Bostwick 
being  out  of  town,  the  President,  holding  the  attention  of  Cap- 
tain Noggins  of  the  "Myranda,"  awaited  them.  The  old  skip- 
per's story  was  soon  told. 

"And  what  did  you  do  with  him,  sir?"  asked  Bolston  of 
Noggins,  in  a  tone  somewhat  severe,  and,  as  the  Captain  must 
have  thought,  indicating  authority. 

"I  didn't  do  anything  with  him,  yer  honor,"  replied  the  skip- 
per, deferentially.  "He  quit  the  old  tub  at  Tampico  and 
shipped  on  a  little  coastwiser  running  up  Chorreras  way.  I've 
been  there,  sir,  and  know  the  place?" 


AN     ANXIOUS     SKIPPER  203 

"Would  you  recognize  him,  do  you  think,  if  you  should  hap- 
pen to  meet  him?" 

"If  I  seen  'em  I  would,  sure,  and  he  give  me  his  photograft 
that  was  took  by  Howser,  the  'Myranda'  clerk,  one  day.  Here 
it  is." 

There  was  now  no  room  for  further  doubt,  and  the  next 
train  carried  Ralph  Bolston,  Doctor  Richardson,  Captain  John 
Noggins  and  Neill  Sproat,  one  of  Bostwick's  secret  service 
officers,  to  the  south.  They  were  ticketed  for  Galveston.  By 
direction  of  the  President,  a  small  cruiser  of  antiquated  pattern, 
then  at  New  Orleans,  was  ordered  to  be  in  readiness  to  receive 
them  and  to  remain  under  Bolston's  direction. 

So  intent  was  he  upon  following  the  clew,  the  Englishman 
had  not  time  even  to  advise  Grey  of  the  good  news.  John 
Koppinger,  however,  attended  to  this  duty,  as  it  had  been  his 
wont  in  the  past  to  lose  no  opportunity  in  manifesting  his  in- 
terest. 

Noggins  was  an  affable  old  sea  dog ;  not  so  old  either — fifty 
or  less.  He  had  had  two  wives — not  at  the  same  time,  although 
both  were  alive,  as  he  supposed.  One,  the  first  one,  had  asked 
for  and  secured  separation  and  had  then  married  a  planter. 
The  other  was  in  Mexico,  the  Captain  did  not  know  in  what 
particular  part.  She  had  gone  there  six  years  ago  with  another 
man,  without  the  due  formality  of  a  divorce  from  John  Nog- 
gins, by  whom  she  had  one  child.  Mrs.  Noggins  took  the  child 
with  her.  Noggins  followed  them  to  Mexico,  but  after  an  ex- 
tended and  arduous  search  for  the  child  failed  to  find  her. 
During  the  search  he  was  at  Chorreras  and  other  points  along 
the  Mexican  coast.  He  would  soon  be  on  familiar  ground,  he 
said  to  Bolston,  who  must  have  thought  it  strange  he  should 
have  known  about  Chorreras  before.  This  fact  raised  vagrant 
doubts  in  the  cautious  Englishman's  mind,  but  they  were  soon 
dispelled. 


204       .        THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"To  whom  does  the  'Myranda'  belong?  asked  Bolston  as  they 
sat  together  in  the  Pullman  sleeper. 

"She's  mine  for  the  most  part." 

"Would  you  like  to  sell  her?" 

"Never !  She's  all  I've  got.  A  man  has  to  have  something 
to  love,  or  he  wouldn't  have  any  trouble;  I've  got  no  wife.  I 
am  married  to  the  old  tub.  I  call  her  Susie,  to  myself." 

"Why  Susie?"  asked  Bolston. 

"That's  the  babby's  name." 

Then  Noggins  went  to  the  other  end  of  the  coach.  In  a  few 
minutes  Bolston  passed  that  way.  The  Captain  was  drying 
his  eyes  with  his  big  red  handkerchief. 

All  doubt  as  to  Noggins'  sincerity  was  now  at  rest.  He  had 
a  heart.  It  was  bleeding  for  the  loss  of  his  only  child,  as  Enid 
Grey's  was  bleeding  for  that  of  her  lover.  Bolston  was  re- 
lieved; thereafter  he  did  not  hesitate  in  his  confidences  when 
talking  with  the  Captain  of  the  "Myranda." 

Besides,  he  liked  him  for  other  reasons.  The  Captain  was 
terse  of  speech.  He  could  put  a  whole  paragraph  into  one 
sentence  and  a  good  volume  into  a  paragraph.  It  was  different 
with  Grey,  Bolston  mused;  not  that  he  found  fault  with  the 
editor  for  anything.  On  the  contrary,  he  admired  him  for 
everything.  Yet,  where  Noggins  had  related  the  essential 
event  in  his  life's  history  in  less  than  five  minutes,  it  had  taken 
the  man  Grey  two  hours  or  more  to  tell  of  Autocracy  and 
Altrocracy.  Still,  these  were  widely  separated  questions ;  like- 
wise, there  was  a  mighty  difference  in  temperament  and  aspira- 
tion between  Arthur  Grey  and  John  Noggins. 

Again,  Grey  was  an  editor,  a  newspaper  writer.  His  style 
was  formal  and  inclined  to  profundity.  The  editorial  style  of 
writing  grows  upon  one,  and  if  one  is  not  watchful  large  words 
will  begin  to  crowd  out  the  smaller  ones.  Grey's  style  of  talk- 
ing expanded  in  the  same  way.  It  was  so  unlike  a  banker's 


AN     ANXIOUS     SKIPPER  205 

style,  for  instance,  who  would  say :  "We  have  money  to  loan. 
Note  must  be  indorsed.  Ten  per  cent." 

If  it  were  Grey  instead  of  the  banker,  he  would  insist  upon 
telling  why  he  had  money  to  loan,  why  the  note  must  be  in- 
dorsed, why  the  rate  of  interest  was  ten  per  cent.  This  seems 
to  be  necessary,  because  not  everyone  is  able  to  read  between 
lines.  And  Grey's  recital  would  possess  literary  merit ;  it  would 
have  an  intellectual  instead  of  a  metallic  ring,  like  the  banker's. 
So  it  is  that  I  have  given  him,  along  with  the  Philosopher, 
much  space  in  these  chapters,  for  he  was  dealing  with  the 
greatest  question  of  this  selfish  age. 

The  tedium  of  the  dusty  journey  to  Galveston  was  greatly 
relieved  by  the  Captain's  quaint  expressions  and  his  amusing 
description  of  his  visit  to  the  White  House. 

"Was  them  the  law-makin'  crew  that  come  in  afore  you  and 
yer  friend  hove  in  sight?"  he  asked  Bolston. 

"They  were  senators  and  members,  I  suppose." 

"A  trim-rigged  fleet  they  was  fer  sure,"  added  Noggins. 
"They  talked  most  about  postoffices.  I  reckon  they'd  lost  some 
billy  doos  in  the  mails.  They're  a  smilin'  lot.  Maybe  they 
was  laughin'  at  me,  rollin'  there  in  the  trough  of  that  big 
leather  barge.  And  the  commodore  he  was  smilin'  broad  and 
sweet,  like  he  was  glad  they  dropped  anchor  alongside  o'  him." 

"That's  his  nature,  Captain,"  replied  Doctor  Richardson,  who 
enjoyed  Noggins  immensely. 

"Don't  he  ever  blow  a  gale  and  pipe  squally  at  'em?" 

"Not  during  office  hours  when  the  statesmen  are  calling;  but 
he  is  less  considerate  of  them  in  his  messages  to  Congress, 
where  they  are  afraid  to  talk  back  at  him,  for  that  would 
jeopardize  their  hold  upon  the  patronage.  Besides,  the  senator 
or  member  that  is  not  in  executive  favor  in  Washington,  is 
usually  out  of  favor  with  his  constituents  at  home." 

All  this  was  Greek  to  Noggins ;  still,  he  replied :     "Well,  his 


206      .         THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

honor  couldn't  navigate  the  'Myranda'  that  way;  he'd  bust  his 
bilers  afore  he  got  out  o'  port.  Must  have  a  patent  steam 
chest  and  his  guvners  tied  down." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

"A  PLAY  WITHIN  A   PLAY  " 

The  time  is  not  yet  come  for  us  to  further  examine  the  secre- 
tive mind  of  Andy  Akers,  nor  at  this  point  to  devote  additional 
space  to  exploiting  the  ruminations  of  Sam  Ives  and  Ep'h  Fox. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  then,  that,  although  Dick  Bostwick  was  assidu- 
ously watching  the  movements  of  Mr.  Akers,  which  Andy  well 
knew,  it  is  most  likely  he  was  in  a  condition  of  greater  serenity 
than  were  the  two  gentlemen  aforesaid,  to  wit:  Ives  and  Fox; 
for,  be  it  said  again,  their  apprehensions  of  disagreeable  dis- 
closures closely  concerning  themselves  continued  to  multiply — 
so  much  so,  indeed,  they  deemed  it  necessary  to  dispatch  one  of 
the  Guild  to  spy  upon  Bolston's  movements.  -If  Akers  had 
really  planned  to  prevent  the  return  of  Twain,  and  the  search- 
ing party  should  find  him  and  discover  the  plot,  the  most  serious 
complications  might  ensue ;  the  first  offense  could  easily  be  over- 
shadowed by  the  last  one. 

So  that  when  the  searching  party  were  leaving  Galveston, 
being  on  board  the  cruiser,  an  old  pleasure  yacht  attracted 
Noggins'  attention.  It  was  steaming  slowly  outward.  He 
knew  the  vessel  as  one  that  had  been  in  disuse  for  many  months 
— not  that  it  was  unseaworthy;  it  had  been  out  of  commission 
on  account  of  the  death  of  its  former  owner.  It  was  now  the 
property  of  Sam  Oakley,  the  former  owner's  son  and  heir. 
Noggins  recognized  young  Oakley,  who,  with  glass  in  hand,  was 


208       .        THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

standing  on  the  deck  closely  inspecting  the  government  vessel, 
or  those  abroad  of  her.  He  showed  unusual  interest. 

The  next  morning,  after  a  night's  sail  from  Galveston,  Oak- 
ley's craft  was  again  in  sight.  This  fact  disturbed  Noggins, 
and  when  at  the  end  of  the  day  the  yacht  was  still  hovering 
near,  he  spoke  to  Bolston  about  it. 

"The  young  feller's  in  bad  as  to  morals,"  he  said.  "Would 
like  to  be  a  sort  of  Captain  Kidd,  or  something  stagey.  He's 
short  o'  brains,  but  devilish." 

So  it  was  arranged  that  Noggins  should  remain  on  board  the 
cruiser  to  keep  an  eye  on  Oakley,  while  Bolston,  Sproat  and 
the  Doctor  went  ashore  at  Chorreras. 

Here  was  a  quaint  town,  if  so  much  it  could  be  called — not 
to  exceed  twenty  adobe  houses,  mere  huts.  There  was  also  a 
church  of  the  same  material,  a  small  structure  with  a  very  large 
bell,  whose  tones  must  have  been  greatly  restrained,  for  it  was 
almost  buried  in  a  deep  alcove  in  the  facade  above  the  door. 

Bolston  always  considered  it  a  piece  of  good  fortune  that  the 
pleasant-faced  old  padre — whom  Giorgione  and  Titian  would 
have  been  delighted  to  paint — came  out  of  the  church  as  he,  the 
Doctor  and  Sproat  were  passing  by.  He  knew  the  French  al- 
most as  well  as  the  Spanish  language,  the  padre  did.  Thus  the 
Englishman  was  enabled  to  learn  that,  although  it  was  several 
months  back,  a  strange  man,  after  remaining  a  week  in  Chor- 
reras, had  gone  away;  that  he  was  accompanied  by  Pierre  San- 
chez, as  interpreter  and  guide;  that  the  strange  man,  whose 
description  answered  quite  accurately,  as  given  by  the  padre,  to 
that  of  Senator  Twain,  had  taken  a  westerly  course  toward  the 
San  Madre  mountains. 

"It  was  an  unusual  way  he  came  to  get  to  the  Capital,"  sug- 
gested the  padre. 

"And  he  gave  me  this,"  interrupted  a  bright-faced  blue-eyed 
girl  of  nine  years,  perhaps — so  white  and  fair  as  to  be  in 


"A     PLAY     WITHIN     A     PLAY"  209 

marked  contrast  with  the  curious  natives  now  gathering  about 
the  group.  She  was  with  the  padre,  standing  in  the  church 
doorway.  "I  hope  he  did  not  take  it  wrongfully  from  the  bank," 
she  added  sorrowfully. 

"No,  he  did  not,"  said  the  Doctor,  examining  the  souvenir. 
"It  is  an  American  piece,  five  dollars,  gold." 

"Oh,  I  am  so  glad !"  she  exclaimed.  She  talked  English  al- 
most perfectly.  Her  mother  had  been  a  teacher  in  a  Louisiana 
parish  school,  before  her  marriage,  so  Noggins  afterward  told 
the  Doctor. 

"What  is  your  name?"  inquired  Bolston. 

"Susie." 

"Sanchez'  girl,"  remarked  the  padre.  "She  is  with  me  until 
her  father  returns." 

"Have  you  no  mother?"  asked  Bolston. 

"She  is  dead,"  replied  the  child,  crossing  herself  and  genu- 
flecting. 

Returning  to  the  launch,  after  some  inquiries  about  the  roads 
leading  west,  they  descried  the  Oakley  yacht  approaching  the 
cruiser.  When  they  boarded  the  war  vessel  the  pleasure  craft 
was  moored  alongside.  Oakley  was  talking  with  Noggins  over 
the  taffrail.  Bolston  heard  Oakley  say : 

"Looking  for  that  stray  senator?"  he  asked.  "Well,  you'll 
never  find  him  here.  Don't  waste  your  time  in  these  parts. 
He's  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe  before  now." 

Oakley  assumed  to  know  what  the  cruiser's  mission  was,  and 
approached  the  subject  directly  and  in  a  confident  tone,  so  that 
Noggins  could  not  evade,  if  he  would. 

"And  why  be  you  in  these  bilge  waters?"  inquired  Noggins. 

"Fishing,"  answered  Oakley. 

"It  is  better  far  north  this  season  of  the  year,  up  where  Cook 
and  Peary  said  they  went,"  was  the  Captain's  reply. 

Oakley  did  not  respond  to  Noggins'  suggestion,  but  suddenly 


210       >       THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

changed  the  subject  back  to  the  quest  of  Twain.  Yes,  Nog- 
gins was  right;  Oakley  was  a  weakling,  "short  o'  brains."  He 
could  not  help  showing  that  he  was  no  match  for  stronger 
minds.  His  anxiety  to  discuss  the  abduction  betrayed  his  pur- 
pose in  following  the  cruiser. 

There  was  now  no  doubt  that  he  belonged  to  the  Consoli- 
dators'  Guild.  His  father  before  him  had  been  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  it — the  dominant  force,  in  fact,  in  a  corporation  that 
controlled  a  vast  chain  of  railroads  in  the  south,  several  chains, 
indeed,  with  a  perfect  network  of  branch  lines.  The  consoli- 
dation of  all  the  lines  had  taken  place  in  defiance  of  law,  and, 
although  the  courts  had  decided  against  the  merger,  the  elder 
Oakley,  through  a  great  financial  concern  in  New  York,  had 
managed  to  get  possession  of  a  majority  of  the  stock  of  the 
competing  lines,  thus  overcoming  the  effect  of  the  supreme 
court's  decision. 

Young  Oakley  had  been  reared  in  the  belief  that  it  was  the 
legitimate  part  of  railway  managers  and  promoters  of  consoli- 
dation to  evade  and  disobey  the  statutes  of  their  country.  His 
regard  for  the  processes  of  judicial  tribunals  extended  no  fur- 
ther than  his  ability  to  evade  them.  In  his  estimation,  a  judge 
who  insisted  upon  following  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  law  was 
unfit  for  the  bench.  Like  most  of  his  kind,  he  was  bigoted, 
intolerant  and  tyrannical.  If  the  Guild  had  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  corrupt  the  ballot,  suborn  witnesses,  buy  juries  or  abduct 
a  senator,  it  had  his  approval  of  the  offense  and  could  depend 
upon  his  cooperation.  Still,  in  his  new  capacity  as  the  succes- 
sor of  his  father,  he  would  be  short  lived  in  the  railroad  world ; 
for  already  the  wolves  of  Wall  Street  had  marked  him  as  their 
prey,  and  were  now  about  ready  to  sit  down  to  the  feast. 

Whoever  engaged  him  to.  shadow  the  searchers  must  have 
been  aware  beforehand  that  the  cruiser  had  been  ordered  to  pick 
them  up  at  Galveston.  In  choosing  Oakley  to  represent  them 


"A     PLAY     WITHIN     A     PLAY"  211 

they  were  even  less  discreet  than  when  they  conceived  the  great- 
er outrage,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

Oakley's  yacht  was  now  steaming  leisurely  to  the  south. 
Bolston  had  come  up  from  below,  and  he  and  Noggins  were 
watching  the  disappearing  craft. 

"Fishin'  in  these  waters  now!"  exclaimed  the  Captain,  con- 
temptuously. "More  like  he's  anglin'  for  somethin'  that  ain't 
got  scales  on." 

"What,  for  instance?"  asked  Bolston. 

"Somethin'  to  tattle." 

"To  whom?" 

"Them  as  sent  him — I  don't  know.  We'll  get  it  afore  he's 
gone.  He'll  cruise  'round  hereabouts,  if  we  don't  stop  him." 

Bolston  was  of  a  like  conviction.  Then  he  changed  the  sub- 
ject by  asking : 

"Had  you  known  that  the  'Myranda'  was  carrying  a  man  put 
on  your  vessel  surreptitiously,  what  would  you  have  done?" 

"Carried  him  back  to  his  friends,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

"After  taking  his  money?" 

"Money's  nuthin'  to  me,  not  that  kind,  and  I  don't  like 
stealin'  people.  That's  how  mine  went.  I  know  the  feelin'." 

"Your  wife?"  inquired  Bolston. 

"And  Susie,"  added  Noggins,  sadly. 

Bolston,  Noggins,  the  Doctor  and  Sproat,  then  going  ashore, 
were  making  the  launch  fast  to  a  dilapidated  pier,  when  the  old 
padre  came  along.  Pierre  Sanchez'  girl  was  with  him.  The 
Englishman  was  watching  the  Captain,  who  was  in  the  boat 
puttering  at  the  propeller,  which  was  fouled  with  seaweed. 
When  Noggins  looked  up  and  saw  the  padre  and  his  com- 
panion, he  gasped  an  exclamation  of  astonishment,  dropping 
limply  into  the  bottom  of  the  launch. 

"The  poor  man  is  sick !"  said  the  girl  in  a  voice  full  of  sym- 
pathy. 


212  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"No,  my — my  little  girl !  Not  sick !  Not  sick,"  he  muttered, 
staring  at  her  in  dazed  fashion.  "I — I  only  hurt  my  hand  on 
the  wheel." 

"Oh,  let  me  see !" 

She  got  into  the  launch,  made  her  way  to  the  seat  near  him 
and  sat  down.  Bolston  engaged  the  padre  in  conversation  as 
he  and  the  priest  followed  Sproat  and  the  Doctor  up  the  sandy 
incline  toward  the  village. 

"It  is  not  bad  hurt;  it  does  not  bleed,"  said  the  girl,  gently 
laying  her  hand  on  his. 

"No,  no,  my  child!  It  is  well  now.  You  have  made  it 
well." 

"But  I've  done  nothing." 

"Yes,  everything,  but  you  don't  know." 

"Of  course ;  I  don't  know  your  name." 

"No — yes !     You  was  young  then." 

"I'm  eight,  soon  to  be  nine." 

"I  knowed  it!     I  knowed  it!     And  your  mother?" 

"Poor  mama  is  dead  two  years  now.    Papa  is  away." 

Noggins  closed  his  eyes  as  if  to  dispel  a  painful  picture  or 
shut  out  a  wicked  thought. 

"And  you?"  he  inquired,  after  a  pause. 

"Oh,  I  live  with  the  good  padre." 

"He  is  kind  to  you?" 

"Oh,  yes,  very  kind." 

"Bless  him !  Bless  him !  Come,"  said  he,  "we  will  go  to  the 
village.  They're  waitin'." 

John  Noggins'  sagacity  prompted  him  not  to  further  disclose 
the  feelings  which  were  now  struggling  for  complete  expression. 
To  give  them  vent  might  balk  the  only  purpose  of  his  life. 

They  strolled  through  the  village,  she  and  Noggins  and  the 
rest,  for  some  time,  making  numerous  inquiries  of  the  padre. 
Arriving  at  the  little  church,  Noggins  motioned  the  English- 


"A     PLAY     WITHIN     A     PLAY"  213 

man  aside.  When  they  were  behind  the  adobe  structure  he 
clutched  his  arm  with  his  powerful  hand  and  was  about  to 
speak. 

"It  is  Susie,  your  daughter,"  interruped  the  Englishman.  "I 
knew  it  this  morning,  and  brought  you  here  so  that  you  might 
see  for  yourself." 

"You  don't  know  what  you  have  done  for  me,  Mr.  Bossun," 
exclaimed  the  Captain.  "My  life  is  yours,  and  the  old  tub,  too, 
if  you  want  'er." 

"I  congratulate  you  on  your  good  fortune,"  replied  Bolston. 
"Now,  the  cruiser  will  go  south  at  once.  You  will  stay  here 
with  her  and  keep  watch."  Then  Bolston,  the  Doctor  and 
Sproat  went  abroad,  leaving  Noggins  with  Susie.  After  all, 
there  is  an  occasional  ray  of  light  even  in  the  darkest  night  of 
sorrow. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  cruiser  anchored  off  San  En- 
rique, forty  leagues  to  the  south.  Here,  too,  when  daybreak 
came,  was  the  yacht.  Oakley  was  still  angling — for  fish  with- 
out scales. 

During  the  next  ten  days  the  searchers  covered  the  uninvit- 
ing country  far  into  the  foothills  and  valleys,  wherever  horses 
could  go.  Sproat  could  speak  the  native  tongue;  yet  those  of 
whom  inquiry  was  made  evinced  such  reserve — or  was  it  wari- 
ness?— that  his  efforts  were  unsatisfying.  The  persistent  Eng- 
lishman felt  certain  that  the  quarry  was  near,  or  had  been 
near,  and  that  certain  wise  natives  were  misleading  him.  At 
the  end  of  a  week's  search  Bolston  fell  ill.  Then  they  returned 
to  San  Enrique.  He  was  suffering  from  climatic  fever. 

He  had  left  instructions  for  the  cruiser  to  go  back  to  Chor- 
reras  from  time  to  time  for  news  from  Noggins.  On  its  second 
trip  it  brought  the  Captain — and  Susie. 

"It's  all  regular,  Mr.  Bossun,"  exclaimed  Noggins.     "She's 


214         .      THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

mine !     Our  principal  business  now  is  to  find  the  senator.     I'll 
tell  you  later  how  it  happened." 

Noggins  had  been  ashore  at  San  Enrique  while  waiting  for 
the  searching  party,  and  had  met  an  old  Spanish  sailor  who 
talked  a  little  English.  From  him  he  obtained  a  clew.  An 
Americano  had  come  into  the  town  early  in  the  fall  and  sailed 
for  the  south.  So,  by  sunrise  the  next  morning  the  cruiser 
was  in  the  harbor  of  Tampico. 

Bolston's  condition  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  remain  on 
board  and  the  Doctor,  too.  By  nightfall  Noggins  and  Sproat 
were  convinced  that  the  man  had  sailed  again  on  the  coastwise 
vessel  that  runs  to  Chorreras.  No  great  number  of  people  go  to 
Chorreras,  only  a  few  traders,  now  and  then  a  govenment  of- 
ficial or  two.  The  principal  passenger  traffic  is  no  further 
north  than  San  Enrique,  and  this  is  so  limited  the  steamship 
agent  remembers,  everyone  that  applies  for  transportation.  The 
man  in  question  attracted  his  particular  attention.  Besides,  the 
stranger  had  American  money.  The  bills  were  quite  new,  just 
like  some  that  Noggins  had  left  on  the  President's  big  desk  at 
the  White  House. 

"Now,  I'll  tell  you  about  Susie,"  said  Noggins,  as  he  sat  by 
Bolston's  bunk  in  the  cramped  cabin  of  the  cruiser.  "It's  a 
short  story.  I  bought  her  from  the  padre — I  mean  I  made  a 
contribution  to  the  church!  When  I  said  that  I  was  John 
Noggins  she  remembered  that  her  mother,  just  before  she  died, 
told  her  about  me.  The  padre  was  there  and  heard  it.  After 
that  it  was  easy." 

The  cruiser  was  now  well  out  in  the  Caribbean,  steaming  aim- 
lessly nor'nor'east.  She  was  no  longer  shadowed  by  Oakley, 
for  one  morning  between  San  Enrique  and  Chorreras,  when 
Susie  was  with  Noggins,  a  shrieking  projectile  across  the  yacht's 
bow  had  served  as  a  notice  to  the  rich  man's  heir  that  the  fish- 
ing season  was  closed.  It  might  have  been  an  accidental  shot ; 


"A     PLAY     WITHIN     A     PLAY"  215 

yet  it  was  a  suggestive  warning  to  Oakley  that  his  purpose  was 
understood,  and  Noggins  made  it  plainer  a  few  minutes  later. 

Oakley  was  duly  indignant.  How  dare  anyone  insu.lt  the  son 
and  heir  of  a  dead  railroad  magnate  who  had  had  the  brain 
power  to  consolidate  many  thousand  miles  of  line  and  put  a  car- 
load of  common  stock  to  par  on  the  Exchange?  How  dare 
anyone  send  a  shell  booming  so  near  his  pleasure  yacht  ?  So,  as 
Noggins  went  on  to  tell  the  story,  the  craft  was  headed  for  the 
cruiser,  which  slowed  down  that  Oakley  might  come  up. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  shouted  at  the  officer  on  the 
cruiser's  bridge.  The  officer  did  not  answer. 

"What  do  you  mean  hangin'  'round  all  the  time?"  demanded 
N  oggins. 

"None  of  your  damnation  business." 

"The  same  to  you,"  replied  Noggins,  "and  many  of  'em." 

"I'll  fix  you  for  this,  you  old  pirate!" 

"Like  you  fixed  that  poor  gal  what  you  got  tired  of  and  they 
couldn't  find  in  Galveston  harbor?  Maybe  the  'old  pirate' 
hain't  testified  in  court  yet,  but  maybe  'tain't  too  late.  Go 
home,  boy,  and  larn  to  be  good." 

Oakley  paled,  even  through  his  sea-bronzed  complexion. 
Then  the  yacht  dropped  away  and  was  soon  out  of  sight.  It 
never  came  back. 

"I  don't  know  nuthin'  'bout  the  gal,"  said  Noggins  to  the 
officer,  "but  I  know  that  scamp  Oakley.  They  never  found  the 
body.  But  you'll  not  see  him  'round  here  any  more." 

Bolston's  health  improved,  but  his  mind  was  troubled.  Thus 
far  the  expedition  had  been  a  failure,  in  so  far  as  any  recent 
trace  of  Twain  was  concerned.  True,  Susie  had  been  restored 
to  her  real  father,  and  that  was  no  small  compensation.  So, 
after  a  consultation,  it  was  decided  to  return  to  San  Enrique 
again,  and  the  cruiser's  course  was  now  laid  in  that  direction. 

How  comforting,  especially  to  John  Noggins,  to  have  Susie 


216  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

on  board.  And  how  she  made  inquiries  concerning  the  big 
world  that  she  had  never  seen.  Her  interest  in  the  little  war 
vessel  and  its  well-drilled  and  white-appareled  officers  and  crew 
absorbed  her  completely.  She  soon  knew  all  about  the  turrets, 
the  funnels,  the  tubes  and  the  torpedoes. 

"I  like  this  boat,"  she  exclaimed,  "but  I  don't  like  its  killing 
people.  That's  very  cruel.  People  are  made  to  be  alive  and 
be  good.  You  won't  hurt  Papa  Sanchez,  will  you?  He 
wouldn't  hurt  you,  Papa  Noggins." 

The  old  sailor  had  his  doubts.  He  also  had  a  heart,  and 
promised  Susie  that  Sanchez  should  not  be  injured. 

At  San  Enrique  Susie  was  placed  temporarily  with  Senora 
Guerrero,  wife  of  Don  Jose  Guerrero,  Alcalde  of  the  village. 
They  lived  in  a  large,  quaint  stone  house  surrounded  by  great 
palms  and  other  tropical  growths.  It  was  on  a  hill  back  of 
the  village,  and  Noggins  said,  after  leaving  Susie  there,  that 
the  prettiest  woman  he  ever  saw  lived  in  it.  Yet  those  in  quest 
of  Senator  Twain  were  not  searching  for  women. 

By  this  time  the  "Penelope,"  now  in  wireless  touch  with  the 
cruiser,  was  sailing  toward  San  Enrique  with  its  interesting 
invalid  and  the  rest;  the  millionaire's  yacht  would  be  there  at 
the  end  of  another  two  days.  But  before  that  time  the  cruiser's 
crew  made  the  somewhat  startling  discovery  that  Pierre  Sanchez 
was  in  town.  This  information  was  vouchsafed  later  to  el 
hombre  principal  by  the  Honorable  Alcalde,  who  showed  the 
visitors  much  attention,  making  an  official  call  upon  them  at  the 
village  clerk's  office,  where  most  strangers  repaired  to  rest  them- 
selves, there  being  no  hotel,  or  other  public  place  where  this 
might  be  done,  unless  it  be  the  plaza,  where  there  were  no 
seats  on  which  to  lounge,  as  in  like  resorts  in  the  States.  Be- 
sides, on  this  particular  morning,  the  air  was  damp  and  chill. 

"Don't  let  me  see  that breed,  Mr.  Bossun,"  said  Nog- 


"A     PLAY     WITHIN     A     PLAY"  217 

gins  after  learning  that  Sanchez  was  in  town.  "If  you  do  I'll 
have  to  kill  him,  maybe." 

"And  if  I  did,  he  would  fall  dead  with  fright,  probably," 
laughed  the  Englishman. 

Here,  then,  were  the  two  husbands  of  Betsy  Blake,  now  eter- 
nally asleep  behind  the  adobe  church  at  Chorreras — the  two 
fathers  of  little  Susie  Noggins.  Pierre  had  been  a  handsome 
fellow.  He  was  big  and  strong  and  had  piercing  black  eyes. 
Perhaps  the  comely  Betsy  was  partly  to  blame,  with  her 
Heaven-blue  orbs. 

"Just  like  .her  mother's,"  the  Captain  replied,  at  Chorreras, 
when  Bolston  spoke  of  Susie's  pretty  eyes.  "And  the  white 
skin  too.  Her  mouth  and  nose? — they  are  mine,  thank  the 
Lord  for  that  much !" 

Two  husbands  did  we  say?  It  was  even  so;  the  padre  had 
insisted  upon  her  marriage  to  Sanchez  four  years  ago,  for  Susie 
would  soon  grow  up  and  come  to  know  the  painful  circum- 
stances that  so  closely  concerned  her  innocent  life.  Of  course 
the  marriage  wasn't  lawful ;  yet  the  padre  didn't  know — not 
until  just  before  she  died,  when  she  confessed  to  him  and  told 
Susie  who  her  real  father  was. 

"Just  like  her,"  sighed  Noggins.  "I  forgive  her  everything 
after  that,  and  now  that  Susie  is  mine  again." 

Although  it  adds  to  my  already  long  list  of  characters,  Susie 
does  not  deserve  to  be  omitted.  And,  now  that  she  must  ap- 
pear, why  not  at  Chorreras  as  well  as  at  any  other  place?  Be- 
sides, isn't  it  good  to  have  breathed  life  into  such  an  one  and 
to  make  her  heart  glad  with  meeting  her  real  father?  The 
Senora,  too — there  are  many  like  her.  Strangely  enough,  they 
always  prefer  to  remain  in  seclusion.  But  you  will  know  her 
quite  well  henceforward,  and  her  charming  daughter,  also, 
whose  name  is  Juanita.  These  new  faces  persist  in  revealing 
themselves  to  my  susceptible  imagination — like  ghosts  coming 


218          _    THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

to  remind  me  that  this  is  an  oft-told  tale.  Still,  we  may  forgive 
them  for  crowding  themselves  in  upon  us,  as  they  are  very 
estimable  persons.  I  do  not  object,  do  you?  And  as  for  this 
being  an  oft-told  tale,  what  novelist  ever  undertook  to  prescribe 
for  the  heartaches  of  men  and  women  and  succeeded  in  telling 
an  entirely  new  story? 

Well,  the  good  "Penelope"  came  in  due  time,  after  Pierre 
Sanchez  had  related  his  peculiar  experiences  as  the  guide  of. 
poor  Twain,  who,  traveling  for  days  through  the  cactus-veiled 
hills,  fording  or  swimming  swollen  aroyos  and  sleeping  fitfully 
at  night  on  sand  dunes  or  in  swamps,  arrived,  finally,  at  San 
Enrique.  Here  he  dismissed  his  guide,  and,  vouchsafing  no 
purpose  in  doing  so,  sailed  on  a  vagrant  sloop  bound  for  no- 
where. This  happened  in  September,  about  the  time  that 
Sloane  was  chosen  at  the  primary  election  to  succeed  Twain  in 
the  Senate.  To  follow  him  further  would  be  fruitless,  in  the 
opinion  of  Bolston,  who  also  opined  that,  in  view  of  the  missing 
icnator's  erratic  peregrinations  during  the  past  summer,  as  likely 
as  not  he  might  turn  up  again  at  San  Enrique,  even  in  Decem- 
ber or  January,  for  the  Christmas  holidays  were  now  at  hand; 
for  which  the  sparse  population  of  San  Enrique  were  thankful. 
Never  before  had  they  received  so  many  or  such  rare  presents 
as  came  now,  and  liberally,  too,  from  the  "Penelope's"  hold,  by 
direction  of  her  generous  commodore,  Mrs.  Holt. 

And  whether  the  nimbus  of  fame  is  to  envelop  the  receding 
brow  of  Samuel  Sloane  after  he  takes  his  seat  in  the  Senate ; 
whether  the  multitude  is  forever  to  abide  pernicious  slander, 
accepting  as  gospel  truth  all  that  it  reads  in  the  scarlet  press, 
be  it  ever  so  plausible — for  the  greater  the  plausibility  in  such 
cases  the  more  yellow  untruth  becomes ;  whether  Mrs.  Farnum's 
question,  when  she  sat  with  one  pink  foot  curled  up  under  her 
and  asked  Andy  Akers,  who  was  sipping  stale  beer  and  lunching 
on  midnight  lobster,  if  he  had  done  the  deed,  and  he  replied 


"A     PLAY     WITHIN     A     PLAY"  219 

saying  he  was  sleepy,  is  ever  to  be  answered  at  all — whether,  I 
repeat,  any  of  these  is  to  happen,  even  so,  the  altruistic  and 
patriotic  Americanos  now  at  San  Enrique  will  pursue  their 
bent,  laughing,  sighing,  weeping,  to  the  end,  relying  for  guid- 
ance and  good  fortune  upon  the  Immutable. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

LOVE'S  YOUNG  DREAM  DISTURBED 

It  would  be  taxing  the  credulity  of  my  readers  altogether  too 
far  if  I  chose  to  tell  them  that  even  after  Captain  Noggins  left 
Washington,  having  relieved  himself  from  all  taint  of  suspicion 
in  the  matter ;  after  his  visit  to  the  White  House,  and  after  the 
departure  of  the  searchers  for  Mexico — all  the  world  knowing 
these  facts  and  believing,  too,  that  Senator  Twain  had  been 
forcibly  compelled  to  go  upon  the  "Myranda,"  which  then  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  him  away — it  would  be  as  if  there  were  no  ques- 
tion whatsoever  about  your  gullibility,  dear  reader,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  my  audacious  boldness,  should  I  ask  your  acceptance  of 
the  unreasonable  theory  that,  with  all  these  things  happening, 
and  Andy  Akers'  admission  to  Bolston  that  he  himself  was  the 
abductor,  yet,  nevertheless,  the  said  Akers,  whose  regular  habits 
have  heretofore  been  adverted  to,  had  not  as  yet  been  taken  into 
custody.  It  would  also  be  a  reflection  upon  the  vigilance,  if 
not  the  probity,  of  Dick  Bostwick. 

Hence,  without  further  delay,  the  fact  might  as  well  be  told 
that  on  the  same  day  the  graceful  "Penelope"  dropped  anchor 
in  the  offing  below  San  Enrique,  Mr.  Akers  was  put  in  jail  in 
Washington. 

The  surprising  part  of  it  was  that  he  laughed  so  heartily  over 
the  matter  Chief  Bostwick  felt  as  if,  after  all,  he  had  made  a 
mistake,  a  most  ludicrous  mistake  at  that ;  for,  in  truth,  while 


LOVE'S     YOUNG     DREAM     DISTURBED      221 

the  process  was  not  unlike  others  upon  which  better  men  even 
than  Andy  Akers  had  been  locked  up — a  mere  "information  and 
belief" — yet  Dick  Bostwick  had  never  felt  quite  as  cheaply  on 
like  occasions  as  he  did  on  this  one,  wholly  on  account  of 
Andy's  convulsive  merriment. 

Nor  did  this  cease  when  Eva  came  in  great  trepidation .  to 
console  her  husband,  until,  finally,  she,  too,  broke  into  audible 
smile;  declaring  upon  her  honor  that,  but  for  her  positive 
knowledge  of  Andy's  absolute  sanity,  she  would  now  know  him 
to  be  altogether  and  hopelessly  crazy. 

"Crazy !"  exclaimed  Andy,  slapping  his  knees  with  his  stubby 
hands  and  rocking  to  and  fro  on  the  edge  of  the  narrow  iron 
bedstead  in  his  cell,  continuing  to  indulge  in  excessive  mirth- 
fulness.  Crazy!"  he  shouted  again.  "Well,  Eva,  my  own 
honey  bunch,  if  your  Andy  is  crazy,  what's  the  matter  with  Sam 
Ives?  Ha !  ha !  ha !  In  the  classical  phrase  of  a  Maine  dele- 
gate, answering  an  inquiry  from  an  Ohio  delegate  out  in  St. 
Louis  in  1896,  'everything's  the  matter  with  him!'  Poor  old 
Mark !  I  wish  he  were  here  now  to  laugh  with  me.  How  he 
would  enjoy  it."  Then,  his  face  taking  on  a  serious  expres- 
sion :  "Quite  a  while  ago,  Eva,  you  asked  me  if  I  did  it,  and 
I  was  too  sleepy  to  answer.  I'm  wide  awake  now,  as  you  see. 
Yes,  Eva,  I  did  it,  and  they  don't  dare  bring  me  to  court.  You 

tell  'em  so,  Eva ;  defy  them, —  'em.  Your  Andy's  no  coward, 

but  I  know  some  who  are,  Eva,  and  they  ain't  yet  locked  up." 

It  was  true,  as  opined  by  Akers,  that  there  were  those  not 
under  lock  and  key  at  that  moment  who  were  much  more  un- 
happy than  he.  For  the  present  it  will  be  necessary  to  deal 
somewhat  with  one  of  these — the  Honorable  William  Giddings, 
whose  name,  be  it  remembered,  has  not  been  mentioned  by 
Akers  for  a  long  time,  not  since  he  referred  to  the  former  legis- 
lator and  present  associate  of  Sam  Ives  as  "a  fool,  and  a  cheap 
one  at  that." 


222  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Now,  when  Chief  Bostwick  arrived  at  B ,  far  out  in  the 

middle  west,  even  beyond  St.  Louis,  where  the  Farnum  had 
sipped  special  vintage  with  Fox,  Bill  Giddings  was  at  home. 
He  had  been  there  only  a  few  hours,  coming  directly  from  the 
great  metropolis,  the  center  of  financial  power  and  incorporated 
wisdom.  The  business  that  had  taken  Giddings  to  see  Sam 
Ives  in  New  York  pertained  to  the  last  conference  he  had  had 
with  Andy  Akers  in  Washington,  when  Akers  made  the  some- 
what startling  announcement  that  Twain  would  not  come  back, 
and  even  Giddings  had  been  shocked  by  the  suggestion. 

This  anouncement  had  been  conveyed  by  Giddings  to  Ives,  by 
Ives  to  Fox,  and  by  Fox  to  Roberts,  the  legal  adviser  of 
troubled  consolidators.  After  this,  Giddings  started  home.  On 
the  way  he  read  of  the  arrest  of  Andy  Akers,  and  before  he  had 
quite  recovered  from  the  shock  this  piece  of  news  occasioned,  he 
received  a  dispatch  directing  him  to  return  at  once  to  New 
York.  It  was  from  Ives. 

If  the  author  of  the  message  had  misgivings  in  regard  to 
Giddings'  nerve  and  his  fund  of  fortitude  under  trying  circum- 
stances he  didn't  betray  them  when  Giddings  and  he  were  in  his 
room  at  the  hotel.  Quite  to  the  contrary. 

Still,  it  was  good  to  see  Giddings  again,  he  declared,  and  to 
look  him  in  the  eye.  Until  now  Ives  had  not  thought  to  tell 
Giddings  of  the  great  compliment  he  had  paid  him  when  he 
told  Fox  some  weeks  back  that  he  (Giddings)  was  the  truest 
and  most  steadfast  friend  he  had  ever  known.  Giddings 
thanked  him  for  this  expression  of  confidence. 

"But  who  is  Fox?"  he  queried. 

"Fox?"  exclaimed  Ives.     "Why,  you  know  Fox." 

"Never  saw  him  in  my  life."  And  this  was  strictly  within 
the  bounds  of  truth. 

"You  know  of  him,  of  course." 

"Never  heard  of  him." 


LOVE'S     YOUNG     DREAM     DISTURBED      223 

This  was  not  the  truth.  It  was  so  far  from  it  that  Ives  had 
no  difficulty  whatever  in  seeing  the  point.  After  a  short  silence 
he  walked  over  to  where  Giddings  sat  and  patted  him  affection- 
ately on  the  back. 

"Of  course  you  never  did,  old  man!  What  am  I  talking 
about,  anyway?  I  have  so  many  things  on  my  mind  I  get  them 
all  mixed  up  sometimes." 

"As  I  said  to  a  certain  party  in  Washington  recently,"  re- 
marked Giddings,  nonchalantly,  "when  he  asked  me  if  I  knew 
Sam  Ives,  'Never  heard  of  the  man,'  I  said.  'Who  is  he?' 
And  the  other  man  said,  'I  don't  know.'  " 

In  the  art  of  improvisation  the  honors  were  now  about  equal, 
and  Ives  breathed  much  more  easily;  Giddings'  fable  pleased 
him.  Confidence  being  thus  restored,  he  and  Giddings  talked 
further — concerning  matters  and  men  they  both  knew  about. 
To  be  more  exact,  they  talked  freely  of  Akers'  arrest  and  then 
spoke  of  the  consolidators'  lawyer  and  his  strange,  persistent 
reference  to  the  important  part  that  Martha  Giddings  might 
be  called  upon  to  play  in  the  "tragedy." 

"Did  he  refer  to  it  as  a  tragedy?"  asked  Giddings. 

Ives  nodded  his  head  affirmatively. 

"Well,  it  won't  be  a  tragedy  if  Twain  comes  back,  now  that 
he  is  in  a  fair  way  of  being  found,"  replied  Giddings. 

"And  now  that  the  man  who  said  he  wouldn't  come  back 
has  been  locked  up,"  added  Ives. 

Giddings  was  startled  by  the  remark.  Locked  up !  In  his 
apprehensive  ears  he  seemed  to  hear  the  prison  door  as  it  turned 
gratingly  on  its  rusty  hinges.  Neither  of  them  spoke  for  sev- 
eral minutes.  Every  minute  seemed  like  an  hour  to  both  of 
them.  Perhaps  Ives  had  heard  the  same  noise  that  startled 
Giddings. 

When  the  latter  boarded  the  train  for  the  west  that  night 
he  had  received  fresh  instructions  from  Ives ;  but  at  no  time  in 


224  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

his  precarious,  erring  career  had  he  ever  cared  so  little  about 

arriving  at  B ;  nor  had  his  purpose  ever  before  been  quite 

as  indefinite,  uncertain,  as  now. 

So,  as  has  been  said,  when  Bostwick  arrived  Giddings  was 
at  home. 

Now,  the  Chief  of  the  Capital's  detective  service  had  never 

before  been  as  far  west  as  B ;  he  was  a  stranger  in  a 

strange  place.  Yet,  the  streets  were  named  and  numbered  and 
the  town  supported  a  city  directory.  Giddings'  name,  the  name 
of  the  street  and  the  number  of  his  house  were  all  in  the  direc- 
tory. During  the  afternoon  the  Chief  walked  leisurely  through 
the  town.  He  saw  many  fine  homes.  Western  folk  are  given 
to  these  luxuries. 

One  of  these  homes  belonged  to  Bill  Giddings,  so  the  direc- 
tory indicated.  On  the  broad  front  porch,  in  the  cool  shade  of 
a  blue-striped  awning,  sat  a  young  woman,  who  had  just  turned 
her  twentieth  year.  She  was  pretty;  one  might  say  she  was 
almost  beautiful.  I  will  leave  it  with  you,  dear  reader : 
Blond  hair,  fair  skin,  very  fair,  violet-blue  eyes,  statuesque 
figure,  vivacious;  marvelous  freshness  of  cheek  and  ripe  red- 
ness of  lip.  Isn't  it  the  picture  of  a  beautiful  woman?  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  it  should  have  commanded  the  admiration  of 
Ephraim  Fox,  even  though  he  was  more  than  twice  as  old  as 
she  ?  And  yet,  disparity  in  years,  as  in  this  case,  is  said  to  add 
to  some  men's  susceptibilities;  therefore,  it  were  the  part  of 
charity  not  to  judge  Fox  too  harshly. 

In  a  rocker  near  by,  smiling,  swinging  to  the  rhythm  of  a 
topical  song  the  two  were  singing,  sat  a  gentleman  of  thirty 
summers,  perhaps,  one  much  nearer  her  own  age,  it  will  be 
observed.  He,  too,  was  prepossessing;  he  was  handsome. 
When  the  song  ended  the  gentleman  leaned  forward,  his  face 
close  to  hers.  He  was  now  talking  earnestly  to  her.  Bost- 
wick did  not  hear  what  he  said,  nor  her  whispered  answers,  for 


LOVE'S     YOUNG     DREAM     DISTURBED      225 

both  voices,  only  a  moment  ago  quite  audible,  were  now  sub- 
dued, low-toned,  and  the  loving  words  were  not  for  ears 
other  than  their  own.  It  is  the  old,  old  story,  mused  the  Chief, 

who  was  now  sorry  that  he  had  come  to  B ;  for  here  was  a 

"young  dream"  that  was  destined  to  have  an  early  awakening. 

A  little  later,  while  Bostwick  was  fanning  himself  with  his 
straw  hat  and  standing  in  the  shade  of  a  wide-branched  and 
broad-leafed  tree  at  the  corner  of  the  square  on  which  the 
house  stood,  the  handsome  young  man  rose  from  the  rocker, 
took  the  girl's  small  white  hands  in  his,  looked  affectionately 
into  her  eyes  for  quite  awhile,  and  then  came  away. 

"Be  ready  on  time,  Martha ;  the  curtain  goes  up  promptly  at 
eight."  This  was  said  in  a  tone  that  Bostwick  could  easily 
hear. 

The  young  man,  then  taking  his  leave,  walked  rapidly 
toward  the  business  center  of  the  town,  and  soon  entered  a  four- 
story  office  building.  He  unlocked  a  heavy  oaken  door.  On 
the  glass  pane  in  the  door,  after  the  young  man  had  closed  it 
behind  him,  Bostwick  read  these  words  in  gold-gilt  letters : 
"Asher  Wells,  Lawyer."  After  this  the  Chief  went  leisurely 
to  his  hotel,  for  there  was  no  hurry ;  besides,  he  needed  time  in 
which  to  think  out  what  next  it  were  best  for  him  to  do. 

It  was  a  few  minutes  before  eight  o'clock,  soon  after  a  car- 
riage with  two  happy,  hopeful  persons  in  it  had  wheeled  away 
from  the  Giddings  home,  that  Bostwick  rang  the  bell.  Bill 
Giddings  himself  opened  the  door.  Even  the  servants  had 

gone  to  the  theatre,  for  good  actors  came  not  often  to  B , 

and  the  play  was  one  that  had  had  a  whole  year's  run  in 
Broadway.  This  fact  overshadowed  all  that  Walter  Somers 
had  said  about  it,  and  Somers  was  a  famous  critic;  he  never 
permitted  the  exigencies  of  the  counting  room  to  influence  his 
judgment  of  a  play,  or  the  fact  that  it  was  a  Broadway  favorite 
to  sway  him  in  his  criticisms. 


226        .       THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

So,  Giddings  was  the  only  one  in  the  house  when  Bostwick 
rang  the  bell.  After  as  little  ceremony  as  need  be,  the  Chief 
found  himself  in  a  bountifully-furnished  sitting  room,  pleas- 
antly engaged  in  conversation  with  the  confidential  friend  of 
Sam  Ives. 

Bostwick  noticed  that  Giddings  was  somewhat  ill  at  ease ; 
yet  he  was  polite  and  agreeable,  and  the  Chief  could  see  that 
his  was  a  confiding  nature.  He  liked  this  manner  of  tempera- 
ment much  better  than  that  of  some  other  men  he  had  met 
under  delicate  circumstances — of  those,  for  instance,  who,  having 
cause  to  be  ill  at  ease,  are  defiant,  blustering,  pompous.  So  he 
knew  that  Giddings  would  be  reasonable  about  it,  and  it  would 
not  be  necessary  to  resort  to  unpleasant  measures.  It  is  more 
than  likely  that  Giddings  even  knew  who  Bostwick  was,  for 
the  Chief,  as  has  been  said,  was  famous  in  the  east,  especially 
in  Washington,  and  Giddings  had  spent  several  anxious  days 
in  that  city  very  recently.  Surely,  Akers  was  not  unaware  of 
Bostwick's  existence,  nor  of  the  business  he  was  engaged  in. 
But,  of  course,  Akers  was  not  just  then  in  a  position  to  know 
that  Bostwick  was  now  in  B . 

If  it  was  true  that  Giddings  knew  who  Bostwick  was,  then 
he  must  have  known  what  his  mission  was.  All  the  more  reason 
therefore  did  Bostwick  have  for  admiring  him  for  his  polite- 
ness, his  agreeableness  and  his  confiding  nature.  And  he  pitied 
him  on  account  of  the  plight  he  was  in ;  for  Bostwick,  too,  was 
the  proud  and  devoted  father  of  a  lovely  daughter.  She  was 
the  idol  of  his  heart,  the  solace  of  his  declining  years. 

Therefore  it  was  that  he  approached  the  subject  gently,  com- 
passionately, and  with  a  feeling  that  duty  sometimes  compels 
disagreeable  announcements. 

"You  have  a  daughter,  Mr.  Giddings?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"She  is  a  beautiful  girl ;  I  have  seen  her." 


LOVE'S     YOUNG     DREAM     DISTURBED      227 

"And  very  dear  to  me,"  added  Giddings. 
"She  is  engaged  to  be  married,"  continued  Bostwick. 
"That   is,"    replied   Giddings,   hesitatingly,    "yes;   yet   only 
since  yesterday.     I  cannot  imagine  how  it  could  so  soon  be 
known  outside  the  family." 

Among  those  that  knew  him  Bostwick  had  a  great  record  as 
a  guesser  of  riddles,  and  after  he  had  seen  a  hopeful  young 
couple  on  the  Giddings  porch  that  very  afternoon,  the  riddle 
was  not  difficult  of  solution.  Then  Bostwick  added  this  to  his 
last  statement : 

"To  Mr.  Asher  Wells." 

"Yes ;  that  is  correct." 

"He  is  the  local  attorney  for  the  C.  Q.  D.  railway,"  con- 
tinued Bostwick.  This  fact  Bostwick  could  know  without 
guessing  it. 

"A  very  fine  man,  Mr.  Bostwick." 

"Undoubtedly.  You  also  maintain  certain  relations  with 
the  company." 

"I  have  looked  after  its  local  affairs  to  some  extent,  securing 
right-of-way  for  it,  and  so  forth." 

"And  legislation,  under  direction  of  Mr.  Ives,"  suggested 
the  Chief. 

Giddings  did  not  reply.  By  this  time  he  must  have  conclud- 
ed that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  an  expert  mind  reader,  one 
with  the  "Scotch  second  sight." 

"You  are  also  acquainted  with  Andy  Akers,  of  Washington," 
said  Bostwick,  after  giving  Giddings  plenty  of  time  in  which 
to  have  replied  to  his  previous  remark. 

"I  have  met  him,"  replied  Giddings. 

"Of  course  you  are  aware  of  the  trouble  he  is  in?" 

"I  read  of  it  in  the  newspapers." 

"A  friend  of  his  mentioned  your  name  to  me  just  before  I 
came  away,  Mr.  Giddings."  This  was  somewhat  indefinite; 


228        ;-      THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

yet  it  proved  effective.  Who  the  friend  was  mattered  little, 
even  though  it  was  Eva  Farnum,  who  had  no  great  admiration 
for  Giddings  to  begin  with. 

"There  are  those  who  are  not  always  accurate  in  their  state- 
ments, Mr.  Bostwick." 

After  a  long  pause  Bostwick  continued : 

"Perhaps  it  might  be  well  if  you  would  accompany  me  to 
Washington.  Akers  is  in  deep  distress;  you  should  be  near 
him.  You  may  need  to  consult  with  each  other.  I  leave  on  the 
midnight  train." 

"And  Martha!"  exclaimed  Giddings.  "She  may  not  return 
from  the  theatre  before  then." 

"Your  daughter  will  be  here  shortly,"  replied  Bostwick  in 
kindly  tone.  "I  have  arranged  for  that  with  Mr.  Wells, 
through  a  third  person.  They  will  leave  the  theatre  at  the 
end  of  the  second  act. 

"Merciful  heavens !"  exclaimed  Giddings,  now  on  his  feet, 
standing  near  Bostwick.  "She  knows  nothing  about  it." 

"You  will  have  time  to  explain  matters  when  she  comes. 
I'm  sorry,  Mr.  Giddings,  yet  it  is  unavoidable." 

There  could  now  be  no  question  in  Giddings'  mind  that  his 
connection  with  the  supposed  abduction  was  fully  known  to 
those  who  had  the  lawful  right  to  deal  with  such  things,  and 
it  required  only  a  moment  or  two  for  him  to  realize  the  situa- 
tion he  was  in  and  to  determine  upon  a  plan  of  action.  It  is 
more  than  likely  that,  since  leaving  Ives  in  New  York,  he  had 
outlined  a  course  to  pursue,  if  it  came  to  this. 

Even  while  he  was  turning  the  problem  in  his  mind,  and 
Bostwick  was  turning  the  pages  of  a  magazine,  waiting  for 
Giddings  to  reply,  if  he  chose  to  do  so,  the  rumble  of  carriage 
wheels  was  heard  through  the  open  door.  In  another  moment 
Martha  Giddings,  bounding  into  the  room,  a  scared  expression 
on  her  face,  was  at  her  father's  side.  She  was  about  to  speak, 


LOVE'S     YOUNG     DREAM     DISTURBED      229 

when  she  saw  Bostwick.  Then  Giddings  moved  slowly  toward 
an  adjoining  room,  motioning  Martha  to  follow  him. 

"Just  a  moment,  papa;  I'll  ask  Asher  to  wait  on  the  porch. 
We  are  anxious  to  see  the  last  act." 

When  the  door  of  the  adjoining  room  was  closed,  Giddings 
and  his  daughter  inside,  she  exclaimed: 

"Papa,  what  does  this  mean?  Who  is  the  strange  gentle- 
man? Why  were  we  sent  for?" 

Categorical  replies  to  the  questions  of  some  women  are 
necessary,  though  it  is  more  than  likely  the  replies  will  result 
merely  in  additional  inquiries  before  one-half  the  first  ones 
are  answered.  Not  so  with  Martha  Giddings;  she  had  a  logi- 
cal mind. 

"There  is  some  very  important  business  to  be  attended  to, 
my  dear  child,"  said  her  father;  "I  must  go  east  on  No.  2. 
You  will  go  with  me ;  I  shall  need  you.  Mr.  Bostwick  returns 
on  the  same  train.  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it  tomorrow." 

"I  must  explain  to  Asher.     Oh,  dear!     Oh,  dear!" 

Two  hours  later  the  Citrus  Limited  pulled  out  of  the  station 

at  B .  Bostwick,  Giddings  and  Martha  were  in  the  rear 

sleeper.  Of  course  Asher  Wells  was  greatly  surprised;  yet  he 
was  mollified  in  some  degree  by  the  lingering  kiss  he  received 
before  Martha  entered  the  coach,  and  the  promise  that  she 
would  return  to  him  "the  very  minute  the  nasty  old  business  is 
disposed  of.  But  for  papa's  poor  health,  Asher,  I  would  not 
leave  you." 

En  route  the  next  day  Giddings  explained  to  her  that  a  good 
for  nothing  scamp  he  happened  to  know  had  been  arrested,  and 
that  he  had  connected  the  Giddings  name  with  the  Twain  ab- 
duction. 

"How  fortunate  it  is,  Martha,"  he  remarked  with  an  encour- 
aging smile,  "that  my  standing  among  men  is  sufficient  to  pre- 


230       .         THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

elude  the  necessity  of  a  court  process  to  bring  me  to  Washing- 
ton." 

"A  court  process,  father!"  she  exclaimed.  "Surely,  you 
have  had  nothing  to  do  with — " 

"Men  who  are  in  politics,  Martha,  are  obliged  to  deal  with 
all  kinds  of  people,  and  sometimes  one  must  bear  the  burden  of 
others'  deeds,  especially  their  evil  deeds;  it  is  so  easy  for  such 
men  to  put  the  blame  where  it  does  not  belong." 

"Of  course  it  is  all  a  horrible  mistake,  dear  father,"  she 
replied,  an  interrogative  note  in  her  words. 

"Yes,  my  child;  it  is  a  horrible  mistake.  But  do  not  allow 
it  to  trouble  you  for  a  single  moment." 

As  soon  as  Bostwick  saw  the  spacious  Giddings  residence  the 
evening  before,  and  had  made  a  mental  photograph  of  Martha 
and  Asher,  he  felt  that  the  family  name  would  be  a  sufficient 
bond  of  indemnity,  and  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  go 
through  the  formality  of  an  arrest. 

And  Asher  Wells,  having  been  assured  that  it  was  "merely 
an  unexpected  business  trip,"  and  Martha  being  convinced  that 
her  father's  vindication  would  be  only  a  matter  of  form,  she 
tried  to  make  herself  comfortable  by  reading  the  latest  love 
story,  several  of  them,  indeed,  as  the  red-bound  books  were 
dropped  into  the  seat  of  her  section  by  the  newsboy. 

Yet,  Martha's  sad  eyes  could  not  be  persuaded  to  follow  the 
lines  of  the  book  she  was  trying  to  read.  They  preferred  to 
gaze  dreamily  out  of  the  window,  until,  finally,  the  view  seemed 
to  be  obscured,  as  if  a  sheet  of  rain  had  enveloped  the  window 
pane.  Still,  the  sun  was  shining  brightly,  and  there  were  no 
clouds  against  the  sky. 

Then  Bostwick  came  along.  He  made  a  pleasant  remark 
and  sat  down  opposite  her.  He  could  plainly  see  that  the 
obstruction  to  her  vision  was  not  the  fault  of  the  window 
pane,  for  it  was  not  raining.  His  heart  was  deeply  touched. 


LOVE'S     YOUNG     DREAM     DISTURBED      231 

After  a  few  moments,  in  the  most  cheerful  manner  possible,  he 
said: 

"Your  father  is  not  well,  Miss  Giddings." 

"He  has  been  working  hard  of  late,  and  is  almost  a  nervous 
wreck,"  she  replied. 

"He  should  enter  a  rest  cure,"  said  the  Chief.  "There  will 
be  no  obstacle  to  it." 

"It  is  very  kind  of  you,  Mr.  Bostwick." 

"I  know  of  a  good  one.  We  will  drive  there  directly  on  our 
arrival.  You  may  come  to  my  home,  which  is  near  the  rest 
cure.  I  have  a  daughter  about  your  age.  You  will  be  wel- 
come." 

She  thanked  him  and  gave  him  her  hand;  there  was  the 
clasp  of  sincerity  and  gratitude  in  it.  Then  she  looked  out  of 
the  window  again ;  it  was  opaque,  dimmed  with  moisture. 

The  following  morning  plus  one,  when  she  returned  from 
the  rest  cure  to  the  Bostwick  home,  Martha  Giddings  was 
greatly  perturbed.  She  looked  older  by  a  decade  than  when 
the  Chief  first  saw  her  on  the  porch  in  the  shade  of  the  blue- 
striped  awning  at  B . 

But  how  could  Asher  Wells'  anxiety  be  appeased?  What 
would  he  say — what  would  he  do — if  he  knew?  What  would 
the  gossiping  world  say?  These  were  the  disturbing  reflections 
that  were  running  riotously  in  her  mind. 

Surely,  necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention.  For  Martha 
Giddings  the  time  had  suddenly  come  when  truthful  invention 
must  give  way  to  subterfuge.  Her  father  had  told  her  in  sub- 
stance, as  he  lay  upon  his  little  narrow  bed — for  he  was  now  in 
a  state  of  prostration — of  the  instructions  he  had  received  from 
Ives,  that  Ives  had  received  from  Fox  and  Fox  from  Roberts, 
though  he  mentioned  no  names.  Martha  understood  intuitively, 
and  assured  him  that  she  would  share  his  misfortunes,  come 
what  might,  or  weal  or  woe.  She  was  as  brave  as  she  was  de- 


232  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

voted,  and,  as  Fox  told  Roberts  on  a  certain  occasion,  she  loved 
her  father  "above  all  other  men." 

She  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Asher,  telling  him  of  her 
father's  serious  illness,  and  what  the  doctors  had  said  must  be 
done  if  his  life  was  to  be  saved ;  indeed,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  take  him  to  a  famous  resort  in  Mexico.  She  showed  the 
letter,  or  the  salient  part  of  it,  to  Chief  Bostwick,  and  he  gave 
the  subterfuge  his  approval. 

Martha  Giddings  had  as  little  doubt  about  Asher  Wells'  love 
for  her  and  of  his  constancy  as  she  had  about  her  father's  inno- 
cence, and  of  this  she  entertained  no  doubt  whatever.  Did 
Asher  prove  worthy  of  such  a  love?  We  shall  see. 


CHAPTER  XX 

"LOVE  IS  EVERYWHERE  " 

Don  Jose  and  Senora  Guerrero,  as  became  their  official  and 
social  station,  were  among  the  first  to  board  the  "Penelope." 
They  came  to  welcome  Mrs.  Holt  and  her  guests  to  San  Enri- 
que, for  it  was  the  first  time,  perhaps,  that  so  distinguished  a 
company,  sailing  in  the  yacht  of  a  millionaire  of  many  multi- 
ples, had  come  to  these  shores.  This  function  deserves  a  place 
in  our  story.  The  ceremonious  call  occurred  after  a  small 
sailboat,  carrying  the  Alcalde,  his  wife  the  Senora,  Juanita  and 
Susie,  had  been  made  fast  at  the  "Penelope's"  starboard  side. 

The  old  Don,  in  bespangled,  tight-fitting  waistcoat  and  gold- 
braided  trousers,  very  wide  at  the  bottom,  and  a  gorgeous 
sombrero;  the  Senora  in  a  quaint  cut  of  silk  gown  suggesting 
medieval  fashion  plates,  and  the  softest  red  and  black  shawl 
imaginable,  an  heirloom  no  doubt,  gracefully  draped  about  her 
shoulders;  the  Senorita  Juanita  in  modern  garb,  very  up-to- 
date,  and  Susie  in  a  new  pale  blue  frock — this  was  the  interest- 
ing picture  as  they  came  up  the  polished  stairway  leading  to  the 
upper  deck  of  the  millionaire's  yacht. 

The  ceremony,  the  courtly  courtesy  and  politeness  attending 
this  memorable  call  of  state  quite  captured  Mrs.  Holt,  and  it 
certainly  impressed  all  of  the  visitors.  Juanita,  especially, 
showed  to  advantage.  Her  culture  and  beauty  surprised  them 
all,  for  Mrs.  Holt  had  so  bewailed  the  benighted  condition  of 


234     _-         THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  Mexicans  that  the  other  members  of  the  party  had  come  to 
feel  they  were  arrived  at  Nomansland. 

The  "tea"  at  the  stone  house  on  the  hill  that  evening,  behind 
the  screened  porticos,  was  "so  different,"  Mrs.  Holt  observed, 
"from  the  course  dinners  at  the  Capital.  These  plain  people," 
she  remarked  to  Mrs.  Grey,  "appear  to  be  very  happy  amongst 
their  simple  surroundings,  no  display,  no  ostentation." 

"The  quiet,  simple  life,  my  dear,"  replied  Mrs.  Grey.  "It  is 
much  to  be  preferred." 

"To  be  sure,"  affirmed  Mrs.  Holt.  "No  millions  to  vex  one, 
nor  balloons  to  carry  one's  loved  ones  away.  No  great  castles 
filled  with  bickering,  disagreeable  servants,  and  so  many  other 
responsibilities  to  fasten  themselves  upon  one's  nerves.  After 
all,  Mexico  may  be  quite  endurable  when  one  becomes  accus- 
tomed to  it.  Yet,  there  is  such  a  lack  of  things  hereabouts !" 

"Mother  is  a  darling  anyway,"  said  Margaret  to  Enid.  "She 
readily  adjusts  herself  to  everything;  and  I  am  so  pleased  to 
see  the  deep  interest  she  takes  in  the  Senora  and  her  fascinating 
daughter.  Mr.  Bolston  seems  quite  captivated  by  the  fair 
Juanita's  charms.  What  a  remarkable  man — so  devoted  to 
Senator  Twain." 

"One  in  ten  thousand,  Margery,"  added  Enid ;  "a  nobleman 
without  a  title." 

Yet,  alas!  how  uncertain  are  the  plans  of  man.  In  what 
strange  directions  is  his  course  unexpectedly  laid. 

During  the  past  two  days  the  worthy  young  Englishman, 
with  the  purpose  of  consuming  time  against  the  arrival  of  the 
"Penelope,"  and  in  the  hope  that  some  further  investigations 
might  lead  to  additional  developments,  had  been  riding  the 
country  far  into  the  hills  among  the  scattered  haciendas,  ac- 
companied by  Pierre  Sanchez,  whose  accounts  he  was  as  yet  in 
no  haste  to  credit.  Returning  after  nightfall  to  the  village, 
and  learning  of  the  arrival  of  Mrs.  Holt  and  her  guests,  he 


"LOVE     IS     EVERYWHERE"  235 

hastened  to  the  Alcalde's  home  to  greet  them.  It  was  his  first 
visit  at  the  stone  house  on  the  hill. 

Susie  was  overjoyed.  She  was  moved  to  many  rapturous 
exclamations  when  the  Englishman  came  upon  the  broad  ver- 
anda, and  made  an  effort  to  put  her  slender  arms  around  his 
neck;  but  he  was  so  tall  and  unbending  her  attempt  to  do  so 
was  not  a  complete  success. 

And  how  very  pretty  Susie  looked  in  her  dainty  new  frock! 
Surely,  there  were  tender  and  loving  hearts  and  hands  in  this 
household. 

"Oh,  I  am  so  glad  you  came,  Mr.  Bolston;  they  wanted  to 
see  you  close  by.  We  could  look  at  you  through  the  glass — 
you  know,  that  you  put  to  your  eyes — and  saw  you  before  you 
went  to  the  mountains." 

"You  saw  me  through  the  telescope.     Is  that  it?"  he  asked. 

"Yes !  That's  its  name.  We  saw  you  many  times  that  way 
in  the  village." 

"And  who  are  'we'  ?"  he  asked. 

"Why,  don't  you  know?"  exclaimed  Susie,  with  some  sur- 
prise. 

"Well,  you  saw  me  for  one,  you  say." 

"And  she  saw  you  too,  more  than  I  did — Juanita  did,  with 
the  long  glass.  Oh,  but  she  is  nice,  and  so  beautiful.  Come  and 
see  her,  Mr.  Bolston.  You  will  just  love  her !  I  do." 

If  Don  Jose  had  not  appeared  at  this  moment  to  lead  the 
way  to  the  large  sitting  room,  where  the  guests  were  assembled, 
Bolston  would  have  been  presented  to  Juanita  by  Susie  with  the 
least  amount  of  ceremony;  for  already  she  had  him  by  the 
hand,  and  was  pulling  him  through  the  doorway.  The  greet- 
ings that  followed  were  most  cordial,  as  was  to  have  been  ex- 
pected. 

"How  brown  and  fine  you  look,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Holt. 

He  was  welcomed,  too,  by  the  gracious  and  comely  wife  of 


236  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  Alcalde — a  woman  of  refinement,  and,  much  to  his  surprise, 
as  white  as  he.  Evidently  she  was  of  the  pure  Castilian  blood, 
and  reminded  him  of  the  fair  grande  dames  he  had  seen  in 
Madrid.  She  could  speak  English  sufficiently  to  make  the  ser- 
vices of  an  interpreter  unnecessary. 

The  old  Don -busied  himself  for  a  time  smoothing  Susie's 
pretty  blond  hair,  while  Bolston,  the  Senora  and  the  new 
arrivals  were  engaged  in  conversation.  Then  he  went  to  the 
foot  of  the  narrow  stairway  and  called  to  "Juanita,"  who,  it 
may  be  supposed,  was  delayed,  on  this  particular  occasion,  by 
the  niceties  of  her  toilet. 

"My  daughtair,"  explained  the  Senora  to  the  Englishman, 
with  an  expression  of  pride.  "Soon  she  come,  and  speak  de 
idioma  well  of  your  country,  as  yourself  do." 

No  man  is  so  completely  steeled  against  feminine  charm  as  to 
successfully  resist  a  thrill  of  pardonable  pleasure  when  he 
comes  in  sudden  contact  with  a  marvelously  beautiful  woman. 
In  the  ordinary  walks  of  life,  where  men  and  woman  meet  in 
daily  social  intercourse,  the  mind  is  apt  to  become  inured  to 
passing  impressions,  the  eye  satiated  with  recurring  attractions, 
however  remarkable  they  may  seem  to  be. 

Nature  has  its  own  language,  and  a  tender,  fluent  speech  it  is, 
that  needs  no  interpreter;  and  although  the  human  emotions 
may  be  subdued  indefinitely — compelled  to  dormancy  by  the 
mind — there  is  nothing  that  will  stir  one's  soul  like  the  joyous 
chatter  of  a  pretty  little  girl.  Susie's  exuberant  demonstra- 
tions and  the  touch  of  her  soft  small  hands  had  brought  Bolston 
back  to  a  realization  that  he  still  belonged  to  civilization  — 
where  fair  women  are,  and  where  love  predominates  in  triumph 
over  all  the  elements,  particularly  those  of  the  poetic  kind. 

He  was  impressed  with  the  pleasing  presence  of  the  Alcalde's 
wife,  but  was  not  prepared  nor  even  constituted  to  disguise  his 
astonishment,  to  say  nothing  of  the  strange  agitation  of  his 


"LOVE     IS     EVERYWHERE"  237 

heart,  when  he  beheld  the  fascinating  and  almost  supernaturally 
beautiful  girl  that  came  forward,  on  the  arm  of  her  tawny 
father,  to  take  his  hand  and  bid  him  welcome. 

Nor  did  the  music  of  her  voice  nor  the  swish  of  her  silken 
skirts  cease  to  confuse  him  when  the  proud  and  courtly  Alcalde 
interposed  to  express  his  great  admiration  for  the  visitor,  and, 
through  Juanita,  to  declare  that  "the  brave,  distinguished  Eng- 
lishman, in  common  with  the  others,  did  them  honor  far  be- 
yond their  deserts  in  coining  to  the  Guerrero  home."  Praises 
and  compliments  were  vain  soundings  in  his  ear,  with  this  pic- 
ture of  surpassing  loveliness  before  his  very  eyes. 

It  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  the  observant  Mar- 
garet noted  his  manner  toward  Juanita,  calling  Enid's  attention 
thereto.  Yet,  while  he  struggled  to  compose  himself,  far  be  it 
from  such  a  gentleman  as  he  to  overlook  his  earlier  friends  and 
associates,  to  whom  he  related  briefly  his  experiences  and  dis- 
coveries. But  of  these,  of  course,  they  could  speak  more  at 
length  on  the  morrow. 

Heretofore,  when  in  the  presence  of  an  attractive  woman, 
this  rare  Briton  had  succeeded  in  concealing  all  feelings  of  an 
ardent  kind.  It  had  been  an  easy  matter  for  him  to  preserve 
an  attitude  of  polite  unconcern,  and  to  assume  the  monkish  air 
peculiar  to  persons  endowed,  as  he  was,  with  great  self-control. 

He  had  always  nursed  the  fear  that  some  day  he  might 
betray  himself  to  the  wrong  woman.  But,  notwithstanding 
his  habitual  reserve,  it  must  not  be  assumed  that  his  was  an 
adamantine  nature.  It  was  well,  he  had  learned,  that  in  the 
presence  of  Enid  Grey,  for  instance,  he  had  been  able  to  shield 
his  latent  susceptibilities,  for  few  women  were  more  fascinat- 
ing than  she.  He  had  not  forgotten  their  first  meeting,  when 
she  shone  with  a  radiance  and  beauty  that  would  have  stirred 
any  man  not  trained  in  extreme  caution  against  feminine 
charm. 


238  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

But  now,  without  the  least  forewarning,  under  most  incon- 
gruous circumstances,  he  found  himself  feasting  his  eyes  upon 
a  womanly  vision  whose  dazzling  and  appealing  beauty  made 
his  astonished  senses  reel.  For  the  first  time  in  his  eventful 
life  he  was  intoxicated,  almost  drunk  with  admiration  of  one 
of  the  opposite  sex.  The  monastic  mien  that  heretofore  had 
never  deserted  him  was  gone.  All  his  former  resolutions  not 
to  betray  himself  "to  the  wrong  woman"  had  vanished.  In 
this  helpless  situation  his  words  came  falteringly  in  broken 
sentences.  He  could  not  avoid  the  feeling  that  his  perturba- 
tion was  observed;  and  yet,  strangely  enough,  he  did  not  seem 
to  care;  for  by  this  time,  notwithstanding  his  own  confusion, 
he  could  plainly  see  that  the  charming  Juanita,  like  himself, 
was  ineffectually  struggling  against  newly  aroused  emotion. 
There  was  a  mutuality  of  feeling  between  them  that  Bolston, 
for  his  own  part,  was  not  disposed  to  suppress,  and  this  fact 
but  added  to  his  bewilderment. 

"Ah!  how  very  fortunate  that  you  came  to  Mexico  to  find 
poor  Mr.  Twain,"  she  exclaimed,  when  they  found  themselves 
seated  together,  undesignedly,  quite  apart  from  the  rest  of  the 
company,  the  visitors  being  much  taken  up  with  the  Senora  and 
her  quaint  expressions.  "How  very  beautiful  she  is"  (refer- 
ring to  Enid).  "You  have  known  her  long  ?  And  her  charm- 
ing friend,  Miss  Holt — an  exquisite  type  of  the  blond,  is  she 
not?" 

"I  believe  so,"  he  replied,  rather  guardedly.  "I  have  never 
been  able  to  distinguish  between  the  different  types,  there  are 
so  many  shades,  and  my  judgment,  I  fear — " 

"Cannot  be  deficient  in  the  least,"  she  interrupted,  with  a 
merry  laugh.  "I  am  sure  you  must  have  seen  many  beautiful 
women." 

Here  he  interrupted  her  with  a  confession  which  must  have 
been  more  surprising  to  him  than  it  was  to  her. 


"LOVE     IS     EVERYWHERE"  239 

"And  if  I  were  to  tell  you  that  not  in  all  my  travels  have  I 
ever  seen  one  that  compares  with  the  daughter  of  Don  Jose 
Guerrero,  would  you  believe  me?" 

"How  very  kind  you  are,  Mr.  Bolston,  and  how  ungracious 
it  would  be  in  me  if  I  did  not  believe  you,"  she  replied,  a 
wondrous  light  coming  into  her  eyes;  "but  of  course  you  do  not 
tell  me  so.  How  can  I  answer?" 

But  even  the  compliment  he  had  bestowed  upon  her  did  not 
sway  Juanita  from  the  train  of  her  inquiries,  and  she  reverted 
again  to  the  striking  qualities  of  Enid  and  Margaret.  Her 
insistence  puzzled  him.  Why  should  she  be  so  very  deeply 
interested  in  his  appraisal  of  woman's  charms? 

Could  this  adorable  woman  with  the  wholesome  olive  com- 
plexion and  raven-black  hair ;  with  eyes,  mouth  and  voice  so 
perfectly  in  accord  with  all  his  previous  conceptions  of  en- 
trancing beauty;  this  lissom  enchantress  with  the  rich,  fierce 
blood  of  the  Aztecs  and  the  Castillians  flowing  in  her  veins; 
with  an  ancestry  distinguished  in  the  earlier  government  of  the 
Republic,  a  grandfather  having  fought  his  way  to  the  presi- 
dency, and,  on  the  maternal  side,  coming  from  a  race  that  had 
repelled  the  Moorish  yoke  in  Spain — could  this  captivating 
girl,  who  had  awakened  his  dormant  feelings,  be  reading  his 
thoughts?  Could  it  be  that  she  was  the  one  predestined  for 
him  ?  And  was  she,  even  now,  contending  with  the  demon  that 
would  brook  no  rivalry  for  his  affections?  These  were  the 
reflections  that  were  now  passing  hurriedly  through  his  mind, 
as  he  struggled  for  a  reply  to  her  pressing  inquiry. 

So,  again  he  began,  with  some  hesitation,  to  say  that  Miss 
Grey  was  famous  for  her  many  accomplishments,  and  that  she 
was  engaged  to  be  married  to  Senator  Twain.  But  Juanita 
must  have  known  all  this  before. 

"I  trust  that  my  request  does  not  embarrass  you,  Mr.  Bol- 


240      .-        THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

ston,"  said  she,  laughingly.  "If  so  I  release  you.  It  was 
only  a  whim  of  mine." 

King  Solomon  has  failed  to  tell  us  of  the  ways  of  a  maid 
with  a  man.  Yet,  the  period  in  which  he  sang  was  considera- 
bly in  advance  of  this  Mexican  maiden's  time ;  else  surely  his 
muse  had  not  omitted  a  few  melodious  strains  by  which  to 
interpret  the  subtleties  of  Juanita  Guerrero's  questionings. 

The  following  day  was  spent  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  party 
going  over  the  events  since  the  "Penelope"  sailed  for  the  Carib- 
bean sea  and  the  searchers  set  out  from  the  Capital.  The  ar- 
rest of  Akers  and  the  apprehension  of  Giddings  bore  no  small 
part  in  the  conference,  for  these  momentous  events  had  been 
recounted  in  cipher  messages  from  Bostwick  to  Bolston.  So,  it 
was  agreed  that  the  "Penelope"  should  remain  at  San  Enrique 
and  the  Englishman  should  go  to  Washington  for  a  short  con- 
ference with  Bostwick,  Arthur  Grey  dwelling  plenteously  upon 
its  importance,  for  he  continued  to  maintain  that  there  were 
those  more  culpable  than  the  two  men  now  in  custody,  and  he 
still  cherished  a  desire  to  "run"  that  peppery  editorial.  Next 
morning  Bolston  was  carried  to  Tampico  by  the  "Penelope,"  all 
the  interesting  personages  mentioned  in  this  chapter  accompany- 
ing him. 

"Steamer  day"  was  one  of  the  uncertainties  of  this  thriving 
Mexican  city,  and  when  it  was  found  that  the  sailing  of  the 
next  steamship  for  the  northern  Republic  was  three  days  off, 
Mrs.  Holt  and  her  guests  could  do  no  better  than  spend  the 
time  in  sightseeing.  From  one  view  point  this  must  have  been 
a  vexatious  disappointment  to  the  Englishman,  who  was  anxious 
to  be  about  the  business  for  which  he  had  set  out.  From  an 
entirely  different  point  of  view,  he  was  content  to  wait.  Be- 
sides, he  would  now  have  an  opportunity  to  inquire  into  the 
commercial  conditions  of  this  ambitious  little  city  of  thirty 
thousand  souls,  where  so  many  British  ships  came  to  load  with 


"LOVE     IS     EVERYWHERE"  241 

cotton,  asphalt,  lead,  ixtle  fiber,  bananas,  citrus  fruits,  and 
other  products  of  Mexico.  If  only  Juanita  would  consent  to 
assist  him  as  interpreter.  Had  he  any  doubt  she  would  gladly 
do  so?  In  any  event,  the  three  days  would  be  turned  to  both 
pleasure  and  profit. 

Before  steamer  day  came  around  the  party  visited  all  the 
places  of  interest  in  and  about  Tampico,  including  historical 
points  on  the  Panuco  river,  a  stream  somewhat  famous  under 
the  Huaxtec  Kingdom  until  Nuno  de  Guzman  came  to  lay  the 
country  waste  for  the  glory  of  Spain,  three  centuries  before 
General  Guerrero,  Juanita's  great  ancestor,  proclaimed  the 
Republic  at  Vera  Cruz  and  became  its  President. 

Juanita  found  much  pleasure  in  recounting  the  historical 
incidents,  Bolston  listening  with  rapt  attention.  Visiting  the 
great  steel  pier  the  day  before  he  sailed  for  the  north,  they 
became  so  absorbed  in  each  other,  as  they  sat  in  a  secluded  spot 
looking  out  upon  the  placid  water,  that  the  others  lost  sight  of 
them,  and,  after  a  vain  effort  to  discover  their  whereabouts, 
amidst  the  confusion  of  merchandise  piled  promiscuously  about 
the  pier,  gave  up  the  search  and  returned  to  the  "Penelope." 

"They  will  find  themselves,"  said  Mrs.  Holt,  resignedly. 

It  was  here  that  Bolston  confessed  something  more  than 
admiration  for  this  lovely  descendant  of  one  of  Mexico's 
bravest  and  most  distinguished  rulers.  In  her  woman's  way, 
since  coming  to  Tampico,  she  had  succeeded,  entirely  through 
suggestion,  in  conveying  to  his  mind  the  fact  that  she  was  of 
gentle  blood,  thus  supplementing  the  overpowering  beauty  and 
grace  that  already  had  carried  the  wary  Briton  into  captivity. 

After  ever  so  long  a  time,  short  enough  to  them,  no  doubt, 
spent  in  "finding  themselves,"  during  which  Bolston  left  the 
impress  of  his  warm  lips  upon  her  sweet  hand,  thoughtfully 
and  silently  they  walked  along  the  pier  to  the  noisy  street,  his 
arm  locked  close  in  hers.  It  was  so  perfectly  natural  that 


242  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Bolston  and  Juanita,  he  in  pursuit  of  commercial  information 
for  his  government  and  she  as  his  interpreter,  should  have 
wandered  in  a  different  course  from  the  others,  in  the  maze  of 
coffee  bags  and  cotton  bales,  that  the  incident  required  but 
slight  explanation  when  they  reached  the  "Penelope." 

Thus  it  happened,  when  the  Englishman  sailed  away  next 
day  for  the  north,  that  the  millionaire's  yacht  followed  in  the 
wake  of  the  big  steamer  until  the  two  vessels  came  almost 
opposite  San  Enrique;  and  that  a  Mexican  maid  of  high 
degree  and  glowing  temperament,  when  she  reached  the  stone 
house  among  the  palms  and  found  herself  within  the  seclusion 
of  her  own  dainty  apartment,  threw  herself  upon  the  couch 
and  wept  with  ecstatic  joy,  exclaiming,  "He  loves  me!  He 
loves  me !" 

On  the  voyage  to  the  north  Bolston's  mind  found  diversion 
from  the  serious  duties  of  a  rescuer — even  from  persistent 
thoughts  of  how  the  outrage  against  his  friend  was  to  be 
avenged.  And,  too,  he  had  been  aroused  from  his  dream  of  a 
redeemable  Republic,  a  subject  which  Arthur  Grey  and  he  had 
often  discussed.  He  was  thinking,  dreaming  of  Juanita. 

He  spent  the  hours,  many  of  them,  looking,  with  something 
like  a  new  kind  of  understanding,  it  may  be  imagined,  into  the 
blue  waters  of  the  sea.  We  need  not  pause  to  recount  all  the 
strange  things  that  he  saw  in  their  silent  depths.  Thus  he 
mused:  Twain  would  eventually  return  to  occupy  his  place  in 
the  Senate  again  (consolation  came  easily  to  him  now)  ;  an- 
other vote  on  the  second  amendment  to  the  Purchase  bill  would 
be  taken;  the  Vice  President  would  announce  that  the  amend- 
ment had  been  defeated;  the  incentive  of  the  Monger's  Guild 
toward  universal  dominion  would  be  checked.  Was  not  all  this 
very  fine?  Bolston  was  a  hopeful  person,  withal. 

Oh,  yes ;  delightful  thought !  Susie  had  been  restored  to  her 
father.  Had  not  he  done  his  part  here  also?  What  next? 


"LOVE     IS     EVERYWHERE"  243 

What,  indeed,  was  in  store  for  himself?  Then,  with  his  eyes 
closed,  mayhap  he  could  see  glimpses  of  Elysium,  something 
entirely  new  to  him.  Ah!  He  was  loved!  He  knew  it; 
Cupid,  the  universal  interpreter,  while  loitering  even  at  San 
Enrique,  had  told  him  so. 

Perhaps  it  was  this  that  accounted  for  his  brief  stay  at  the 
Capital ;  for  something  seemed  continually  to  be  whispering  in 
his  ears,  "Back  to  Mexico!"  Nothing  like  this  had  ever  be- 
fallen him  before. 

On  his  return  to  San  Enrique,  having  reported  on  the 
cruiser  and  paid  his  respects  to  those  of  the  "Penelope,"  he 
visited  the  stone  house  on  the  hill.  And  so,  seated  on  the  ver- 
anda in  a  wicker  chair,  Juanita  half  reclining,  gracefully,  in  a 
hammock  ever  so  near — but  why  give  all  the  particulars  ?  And 
yet,  how  perfectly  natural  it  was  in  this  cozy  stage  setting  that 
there  should  have  been  a  convenient  guitar,  almost,  but  not 
quite,  within  reaching  distance  of  the  charmer  in  the  hammock ; 
and  that  Bolston,  being  nearest  the  fatal  instrument,  should 
have  voluntarily  handed  it  to  her.  Thus  do  some  men  assist 
Fate  in  contributing  to  their  own  doom!  And  whoever  knew 
a  Mexican  doncellita,  especially  one  of  the  better  class,  one  so 
richly  endowed  by  nature  as  was  Juanita  Guerrero,  that  was 
not  familiar  with  the  delicate  art  of  stirring  the  innermost  pas- 
sions of  man  with  her  soft,  humanizing  song? 

Did  he  prostrate  himself  before  this  tempting  and  perfect 
picture  of  loveliness  when  she  had  finished  her  incantation  and 
give  vent  to  the  surging  emotions  of  his  soul  by  again  declaring 
his  love  for  her  ?  He  did  not ;  still,  it  would  have  been  so  very 
easy  for  him  to  have  done  so,  had  he  yielded  to  his  riotous 
inclinations. 

Yet,  while  she  sang,  thrumming  the  responsive  strings  with 
her  soft,  fair  hand,  marking  each  tender  expression  with  a  look 
that  would  have  compelled  the  surrender  of  a  less  resolute  man, 


244  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Bolston  found  time  to  think.  Somehow,  his  splendid  self- 
control  had  arrived  at  the  point  of  reassertion.  He  began  now 
to  realize  his  situation;  at  least  he  so  persuaded  himself.  This 
was  but  a  passing  incident  in  his  career,  nothing  more — one, 
though,  that  was  never  to  be  blotted  from  his  memory.  He 
knew  himself  well  enough  to  feel,  deep  down  in  his  honest 
heart,  that  if  he  should  give  way  to  what  he  now  tried  to  believe 
was  but  a  momentary  infatuation,  he  must  and  would  abide  its 
results,  good  or  bad,  throughout  his  life.  Was  it  selfishness 
that  prompted  him?  He  preferred  to  think,  on  the  contrary, 
it  was  the  wisdom  of  discretion. 

But  what  were  the  thoughts  of  Juanita  Guerrero — this  em- 
bodiment of  all  that  was  surpassingly  sweet  and  beautiful? 
Did  she  partake  of  his  stoic  English  precaution?  Could  she 
abide  his  deliberate  conclusions?  Was  it  in  her  zealous  nature 
to  curb  the  welling  emotions  of  her  heart  and  try  to  forget? — 
to  efface  the  memory  of  this  tender  experience  from  her  mind? 
Would  the  stalwart  Englishman's  impetuous  speech,  when  he 
told  her  she  was  the  most  beautiful  woman  he  had  ever  seen, 
when,  again,  he  had  kissed  her  hand  at  Tampico,  ever  cease  to 
thrill  her  confiding  soul  ? 

Impossible !  It  was  her  Latin  lot  to  love  —  or  to  hate ! 
Something  of  the  nature  of  these  reflections  must  have  chal- 
lenged her  thoughts,  for  at  the  conclusion  of  her  voluptuous 
song  she  turned  her  inquiring  eyes  full  upon  him  and  asked : 

"Mr.  Bolston,  do  you  believe  that  we  women  are  savages — 
barbarians,  indeed,  according  to  the  edict  of  a  Chicago  pro- 
fessor ?" 

"I  do  not,"  he  replied,  emphatically.  "What  savage  could 
sing  so  sweetly?" 

"Or  love  as  civilized  women  love?"  she  added,  interroga- 
tively. 


"LOVE     IS     EVERYWHERE"  245 

"As  romantic  history  tells  us  they  are  capable  of  loving,"  he 
replied,  guardedly. 

"And  capable  of  avenging,  too,"  she  added  with  a  laugh. 
"Perhaps  the  professor  had  in  mind  the  tigresslike  fury  of  a 
woman  scorned — one  whose  love  has  been  spurned — and  the 
ignoble,  the  barbaric,  the  savage  character  of  her  renunciation." 

"Surely  you  do  not  mean  to  say  that  in  this  regard  she  is 
more  savage  than  man?"  he  exclaimed. 

"The  man  who  destroys  because  of  love  acts  upon  the  impulse 
of  the  moment,"  she  replied.  "He  is  insane  with  jealousy,  and 
seldom  fails  to  regret  his  act  before  his  victim  ceases  to  breathe. 
But  the  woman  whose  love  drives  her  to  the  desperation  of  so 
rash  an  act  approaches  the  consummation  of  it  through  pre- 
meditation. She  weighs  the  consequences  in  advance  and  is 
prepared  to  meet  and  to  defy  the  punishment;  and  how  fre- 
quently it  has  happened  that  she  prefers  methods  of  retaliation 
that  are  unspeakably  cruel — savage  indeed.  Is  it  not  so?" 

He  was  amazed  that  she  should  draw  the  distinction  so 
clearly,  so  accurately,  this  young  and  innocent  girl,  and  almost 
shuddered  at  her  remarkable  power  of  discernment.  To  re- 
assure her  of  his  disbelief  in  regard  to  the  professor's  theory, 
he  reminded  her  of  the  shockingly  cruel  fate  of  Hypatia,  the 
Neo-Platonic  philosopher,  at  the  hands  of  men. 

"Could  there  have  been  anything  more  savage  or  barbar- 
ous?" he  asked. 

"Yet  they  did  not  murder  and  mutilate  for  love's  sake,"  she 
answered.  "Theirs  was  the  madness  of  fanaticism.  The  furi- 
ous passion  of  woman  finds  its  best  exemplification  in  the 
tragedy  of  Medea.  Following  the  news  columns  of  the  daily 
papers  one  is  impressed  with  the  feeling  that  there  have  been 
many  real  tragedies  of  which  this  one  is  the  true  prototype. 
Oh,  but  this  is  such  a  gloomy  subject,"  she  exclaimed,  changing 
her  expression,  "Pardon  me  for  suggesting  it,  Mr.  Bolston. 


246  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Tell  me  of  your  home  in  England,  and  are  you  to  return 
soon? — to  come  again,  of  course,  for  you  will  be  at  the  wed- 
ding of  Mr.  Twain  and  Miss  Grey." 

"I  hope  to  be,"  he  replied. 

"The  affair  assumes  a  delightful  background;  it  is  so  per- 
fectly romantic,"  she  exclaimed,  "if  only  he  returns  to  her.  It 
is  worthy  of  dramatization.  Perhaps,  Mr.  Bolston,  you  will 
write  it  into  a  play." 

"And  if  I  should,  you  would  be  immortalized,"  he  answered, 
laughingly.  "You  would  play  the  leading  role." 

"What,  I! — in  the  play?  You  are  surely  joking.  I  have 
done  nothing  to  be  so  honored.  Of  course  you  would  be  in  the 
play  also?"  said  she,  the  question  accompanied  by  an  inscrut- 
able look.  He  had  not  thought  of  himself  in  this  connection. 
"And  what  part  would  I  take?"  she  went  on.  "Oh,  horrible! 
I  would  not  want  to  be  the  Medea,  and  kill  some  one  to  avenge 
myself  upon  a  wicked  husband.*' 

"Nor  I  the  unfaithful  Jason !"  laughed  Bolston. 

"To  take  another  wife,"  she  added.  "Certainly  not.  You 
must  write  it  differently." 

"Shall  I  write  it  so  that  we  are  very  deeply  in  love  with  each 
other?"  he  inquired,  peering  into  her  eyes.  Surely  love  was 
speaking !  This  was  not  the  sedate  Bolston. 

"Splendid!  Oh,  yes;  that  will  be  very  fine,"  she  exclaimed, 
"and  I  will  be  most  unhappy — in  the  play,  I  mean." 

"Only  in  the  play,"  he  replied. 

And  all  along,  from  the  moment  of  their  first  meeting,  these 
two  remarkable  persons,  without  knowing  it,  had  been  rehears- 
ing for  their  parts  in  the  greatest  drama  of  their  lives. 

When  he  was  taking  his  leave,  Juanita,  with  a  suspicion  of 
sadness  in  her  voice,  requested  that  he  come  again  soon. 

"Before  I  write  the  play?"  he  inquired. 

"Oh,  yes!     It  will  take  so  long  to  write  the  play,"  she  re- 


"LOVE     IS     EVERYWHERE"  247 

plied,  "and  we  must  talk  about  it  ever  so  much,  you  know,  be- 
fore it  is  finished." 

"And  without  your  help  I  am  sure  it  would  not  be  a  success. 
"We  will  collaborate,"  said  he  laughingly.  "At  any  rate,  I 
promise  you  I  will  do  myself  the  honor  to  call  at  the  Guerrero 
home,  where  I  have  received  such  generous  hospitality,  and  had 
the  good  fortune  to  meet  your  charming  self." 

"Oh,  it  is  nothing  at  all,  our  hospitality,"  she  replied,  "if 
you  do  not  entirely  forget — " 

Shd  paused  in  the  middle  of  the  sentence.  There  was  a 
plaintiveness  in  her  expression  that  lingered  with  Ralph 
Bolston,  ringing  in  his  ears  through  all  the  days  that  were  to 
come  before  this  new  problem  was  solved.  It  was  like  a  piteous 
cry  for  help — "if  you  do  not  entirely  forget." 

But  he  did  not  forget;  nor  did  he  try.  Soon  he  found 
himself  in  a  most  unsettled  frame  of  mind.  Heretofore,  with 
but  little  effort,  he  had  been  able  to  map  out  a  course  of  action 
and  to  follow  it  with  a  purpose.  Now,  he  seemed  to  be  aimless- 
ly drifting.  The  absence  of  encumbrances — he  had  no  near 
relatives,  and  there  was  no  one  to  lean  upon  him — had  enabled 
him  to  lead  a  life  of  comparative  independence  and  ease.  Yet, 
there  was  something  lacking  in  his  later  life.  He  never  realized 
it  so  much  as  now.  Why,  he  urged  upon  himself,  should  a 
man  defy  the  laws  of  nature  and  insist  upon  the  ways  of  a 
recluse?  Why  should  he  try  to  conquer  destiny,  and  "chafe 
against  a  yoke  that  others  have  long  since  borne?" 

The  dwellers  in  Olympos, 

The  gods  themselves,  who  terrify  with  threats 

The  sins  of  men,  have  burned  with  lawless  fires. 

Was  it  wise,  was  it  just,  that  he  should  continue  to  war  against 
the  passion  to  which  he  owed  his  own  existence? 

Thus,  self-accused  and  in  some  degree  self-convicted,  he  was 
humbled,  and  could  but  feel  that  his  offending,  if  it  were  to 


248  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

be  condoned,  demanded  a  full  confession  at  the  only  shrine 
where  a  plea  for  mercy  might  be  entered  with  any  hope  of  its 
being  answered.  Would  Juanita  Guerrero  forgive  him,  he 
asked  himself,  for  his  failure  to  respond  to  her  sweet  ad- 
vances ? 

And  here  he  was  beset  by  another  tribulation.  What  would 
the  world  say,  if  the  world  should  be  allowed  to  know?  Ah, 
no;  he  would  not  disparage  her.  The  merest  suggestion  of  it 
excited  self  resentment.  He  had  never  placed  an  exalted  esti- 
mate upon  his  own  importance ;  nor  would  he  now  superimpose 
the  fact  that  he  was  entitled  by  birth  and  station  to  be  ranked 
as  an  English  gentleman  as  a  qualifying  barrier  against  the 
hand  of  any  lady  of  refinement  and  respectability  upon  whom 
he  might  choose  to  bestow  his  affections.  Juanita  Guerrero  was 
all  that  could  be  desired  in  this  regard.  After  all,  the  vital 
question  was — did  she  really  love  him?  He  would  wait  and  see 
what  the  Fates  decreed. 

As  for  himself — but  man  is  always  sure  of  himself !  His 
love,  like  the  rest  of  his  rugged  nature,  is  so  strong  and  practi- 
cal that  it  may  be  suppressed  to  nothingness,  if  need  be,  while 
woman's  love  may  be  unloosed  to  all  destructiveness.  Man 
must  be  the  judge,  the  calculating  disburser  of  his  passion; 
woman  the  patient  recipient.  Is  it,  then,  to  be  wondered  at 
that  she  sometimes  doubts  her  own  compelling  powers,  and,  in 
her  desperation,  shatters  the  urn  in  which  all  her  hope  is 
treasured  ? 

Still,  Bolston  persisted  silently,  and  it  may  be  over-cautiously, 
to  nurse  his  malady,  without  so  much  as  even  a  diagnosis  by 
Doctor  Richardson.  Ah !  there  was  but  one  cure  for  his 
disease ;  already  the  philter  had  been  administered,  but  he  was 
not  yet  fully  aware  of  it,  nor  would  he  have  admitted  it  even  to 
himself. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
WOMAN'S  APPEAL  TO  WOMAN 

Enid  Grey  was  so  much  improved  by  the  sea  voyage  and 
change  of  scene  that  Mrs.  Holt  had  now  begun  to  felicitate 
herself  upon  it  as  being  due  entirely  to  her  own  timely  inter- 
vention against  the  ravages  which,  as  she  said  to  Margaret, 
would  have  "made  mourners  of  all  of  us,  to  be  sure."  And  she 
lost  no  opportunity  to  deride  Doctor  Richardson  and  the  whole 
of  his  profession  for  the  inemcacy  of  their  cures;  whereupon 
the  Doctor  smilingly  told  her  of  the  insistence  of  an  aunt  of  his 
who  always  prescribed  ginger,  taken  internally,  for  the  tooth- 
ache. This  reminded  the  good  lady  that  it  was  a  lack  of 
"ginger"  that  brought  Enid  to  her  former  plight. 

"Besides,"  said  she,  "codliver  oil  will  not  relieve  one  of  the 
heartache;  no  more  will  squills  cure  maudlin  sentiment,  as  I 
have  so  often  said  to  Andrew  about  illnesses  in  our  family.  To 
be  sure,  no  such  distemper  as  Enid's  has  ever  come  to  any  of 
mine,  but  why  grieve  one's  heart  out  because  of  a  man,  who 
persists  in  evading  his  friends  and  neglecting  his  duties,  roam- 
ing from  place  to  place  around  the  world  with  no  purpose  that 
can  be  imagined  unless  it  be  to  vex  those  who  would  help  him?" 

Having  delivered  herself  of  this  practical  exhortation,  Mrs. 
Holt  bethought  her  of  an  invitation  to  tea  at  the  Senora's, 
whence  the  Englishman,  quitting  the  cruiser  early  that  after- 
noon, was  already  allured. 


250  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"You  and  your  daughter,"  remarked  Mrs.  Holt  to  the  Senora, 
when  the  party  was  hastily  leaving  the  Guerrero  home  after 
the  tea — for  the  weather  was  threatening — "must  come  with  me 
for  a  sail  to  Havana.  Oh,  I'll  fetch  you  home  again,"  she 
exclaimed,  when  the  Senora  shrugged  her  plump  shoulders. 
"It  will  be  a  change  for  you,  and  a  great  pleasure  to  me." 

"It  is  of  you  too  kind.  Gracias,  madame.  Juanita,  hear  you 
what  the  madame  to  us  say?" 

"Si,  madre  mio.  It  will  be  delightful,"  replied  Juanita. 
Yet,  there  was  something  in  the  girl's  look  that  put  her  mother 
on  her  guard,  and  thanking  Mrs.  Holt  again  she  requested 
Juanita  to  say  the  matter  would  be  submitted  for  the  decision 
of  the  Alcalde. 

"Surely  the  Alcalde  will  not  object,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Holt. 

She  was  not  a  woman  to  be  thwarted  in  any  enterprise  she 
might  undertake,  be  there  ever  so  little  rhyme  or  reason  in  it. 
Her  great  kindness  of  heart  included  a  liberal  admixture  of 
spirit  and  adroitness.  This  fact  had  impressed  itself  upon  the 
Englishman,  who  was  quick  to  see  that  unless  he  resorted  to 
stratagem  the  time  might  come  when  the  millionaire's  wife 
instead  of  the  Doctor,  Noggins  and  himself,  would  be  in  com- 
mand of  the  Twain  expedition.  He  had  no  desire  to  interfere 
with  her  prerogative  as  the  commodore  of  the  "Penelope;"  but, 
for  some  reason  he  himself  could  not  fathom  just  then,  he  felt 
it  to  be  his  duty  to  prevent  the  extension  of  her  jurisdiction  to 
the  Guerrero  household.  With  this  end  in  view  he  found  an 
opportunity  to  say  privately  to  Juanita,  among  other  things, 
that  there  were  few  attractions  in  Havana. 

"I  do  not  care  to  go  so  far  away,"  she  replied,  with  a  sweet 
smile.  "It  will  be  much  pleasanter  here,  I  am  sure." 

Now,  when  Martha  Giddings  came  to  Tampico  on  the 
steamer,  leaving  her  father  in  the  rest  cure  at  the  Capital,  she 
found  herself  facing  a  most  distressing  ordeal.  There  was  no 


WOMAN'S     APPEAL     TO     WOMAN  251 

one  here  that  she  knew  to  whom  she  could  turn  for  advice — 
none  like  the  sympathetic  Bostwick.  She  must  pursue  her  pur- 
pose alone,  among  strangers.  But  with  a  heart  full  of  love  and 
a  resolute  pride — the  pride  of  self-esteem,  such  as  belongs  to 
noble  souls — she  had  nerved  herself  to  the  delicate  task  before 
her. 

At  San  Enrique  the  following  evening,  when  she  passed  from 
the  creaking  gangway  of  the  coastwise  vessel  by  the  light  of  a 
sputtering  flambeau  that  was  dangerously  near  extinction  in 
the  downpour  of  rain,  to  find  herself  standing  upon  a  rickety 
pier  among  a  few  half-clad  natives  who  were  there  to  assist 
with  the  freight,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  her  heart  sank  to 
the  uttermost  depths  of  despair. 

It  is  doubtful  if  Asher  Wells,  even  had  he  been  there  to  guide 
her  footsteps  toward  the  village,  now  wrapped  in  darkness,  with 
here  and  there  a  dim  ray  of  light  to  indicate  its  existence,  could 
have  dispelled  the  gloom  of  her  surroundings.  Where  now  was 
Eph  Fox  with  his  protestations  of  undying  affection  and  his 
vaunted  promises  of  assistance  if  misfortune  should  ever  befall 
her?  Yet,  Fox  was  the  last  man  that  she  would  have  wished 
to  see. 

As  she  walked  slowly  and  almost  aimlessly  along  the  slip- 
pery boards  of  the  decaying  wharf,  she  came  upon  two  men 
who  were  hastening  toward  a  launch  that  had  been  made  fast 
above  the  pier-end.  They  were  conversing  in  English.  One  of 
them  carried  a  ship's  lantern.  The  other  held  an  umbrella 
over  their  heads.  As  they  were  about  to  step  into  the  launch 
she  spoke  to  them. 

"Pardon  me,  please.  Can  you  direct  me  to  a  place  of 
shelter?" 

It  was  a  voice  that  would  have  invited  attention  anywhere, 
it  was  so  sadly  sweet,  with  an  unusual  touch  of  feeling  in  it. 
It  did  not  have  the  joyous  ring  that  caught  Chief  Bostwick's 


252        -       THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

perceptive  ear  when  he  heard  it  on  the  veranda  behind  the 
blue-striped  awning  at  B ;  yet,  even  now,  it  seemed  some- 
thing more  than  a  woman's  voice.  Its  plaintive  melody  touched 
Arthur  Grey's  heart,  for  it  was  he  that  carried  the  umbrella  in 
the  effort  to  shield  the  "Penelope's"  captain  and  himself  from 
the  tropic  rain. 

"You  are  sadly  in  need  of  shelter,  my  good  girl.  I  know  of 
none  more  inviting  than  that  we  are  now  seeking.  You  may 
come  with  us  if  you  will,  and  welcome." 

Martha  did  not  hesitate.  She  was  soon  in  the  launch  and  in 
due  time  the  three  were  on  board  the  "Penelope."  Here  she 
was  made  comfortable  by  Mrs.  Holt  and  Margaret.  They  did 
not  question  her.  It  was  enough  to  know  that  she  was  in  need 
of  friends  and  that  she  had  the  appearance  of  respectability. 
Surely,  she  was  grateful.  Her  refined  expressions  and  her  sad 
eyes  put  this  fact  beyond  cavil. 

"Such  a  night  for  one  to  be  out !"  exclaimed  the  good  Mrs. 
Holt.  "And  only  one  house  in  the  miserable  place  that's  fit  to 
live  in,  and  even  that  is  where  no  stranger  could  find  it  in  the 
dark.  They  are  good  people,  though." 

The  leave-taking  had  but  just  been  concluded  at  the  Guer- 
reros when  the  rain  came  in  torrents.  It  was  then  that  the 
little  steamer  arrived  from  Tampico,  and  Martha  Giddings,  the 
only  passenger  for  San  Enrique,  found  herself  on  the  wet, 
rickety  pier.  Mr.  Grey  was  the  last  to  quit  the  Guerrero  home 
after  the  tea ;  the  launch  could  not  carry  them  all  at  one  time, 
so  the  "Penelope's"  captain  returned  for  him,  bringing  an  um- 
brella. It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Martha  found 
sympathetic  friends  and  comfortable  shelter  that  night. 

Had  Enid  Grey  been  requested  to  lead  a  revolution  in  Mexico 
she  would  not  have  experienced  greater  astonishment  than 
when,  the  next  morning,  Martha  Giddings  asked  her  to  inter- 
cede in  behalf  of  one  of  the  chief  villains  that  the  whole  of 


WOMAN'S     APPEAL     TO     WOMAN  253 

civilization  now  believed  were  responsible  for  Cornelius  Twain's 
strange  absence  and  her  own  indescribable  misery. 

"I  come  to  you,"  pleaded  Martha,  "because  you  are  a  woman, 
and  have  a  woman's  heart.  I  know  now  how  you  have  suf- 
fered— you  who  are  more  innocent,  if  that  were  possible,  than 

Mr.  Twain.  I  saw  you  at  the  great  auditorium  at  M . 

I,  too,  am  the  victim  of  peculiar  and  distressing  circumstances, 
and  I  felt  that  I  could  appeal  to  you,  because  you  would 
understand.  In  Heaven's  name  do  not  turn  me  away !  Allow 
me  to  serve  you  in  any  capacity.  I  speak  French,  fluently  my 
teacher  says.  May  I  not  remain  with  you  for  a  while,  ostensibly 
as  an  instructor?  Only  let  me  stay  until  you  have  read  my 
breaking  heart,  and  know  what  it  all  means  to  me  and  to 
Asher— " 

She  could  say  no  more,  her  voice  drowned  in  sobs.  By  this 
time  Enid  herself  was  weeping  with  her.  Putting  her  arm 
about  Martha's  shoulders,  and  stroking  her  hair,  she  endeavored 
to  soothe  her,  promising  that  she  would  do  all  in  her  power 
to  avert  the  impending  blow.  When  the  distressed  girl  re- 
covered herself  and  her  tears  were  gone,  she  was  looking  through 
the  open  window  of  the  little  cabin  into  the  great  distance  that 
separated  her  from  Asher  Wells.  Who  better  than  Enid  Grey 
could  read  her  thoughts  or  know  the  depths  of  her  pain? 

Eph  Fox  was  right;  verily  Roberts  was  a  genius  in  advis- 
ing troubled  consolidators.  Yet,  Fox  could  not  fathom  Roberts' 
mind  when  he  asked  him  if  he  was  in  love  with  Martha  Gid- 
dings  and  he  had  reluctantly  confessed  it ;  nor  had  he  appeared 
to  comprehend  Roberts'  meaning  when  he  referred  to  Enid 
Grey's  Quaker  lineage. 

"Dear  soul !"  exclaimed  Enid,  "you  are  welcome  to  remain — 
as  my  French  instructor  if  you  choose.  I  can  see  no  harm  in  it. 
But  how  can  I  help  you  in  the  other  matter?  I  do  not  control 
the  law." 


254  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Oh,  but  father  was  not — that  is,  he  is  in  a  sanitarium,  and 
will  not  be  required  to  answer  to  the  law — unless  Mr.  Bolston 
or  others  interested  insist  upon  some  proceedings  that — merciful 
Heavens!  how  could  I  face  such  an  ordeal?" 

"Enid,  my  dear  child,"  replied  her  father  when  his  daughter 
had  disclosed  the  purpose  of  Martha's  strange  mission,  "in 
recent  months  I  have  grown  more  and  more  compassionate 
for  those  who  are  in  trouble.  It  would  be  impossible  for  me 
to  refuse  your  request  to  help  this  poor  suffering  girl.  Yet 
how  can  it  be  accomplished?  I  will  talk  with  Bolston  about  it. 
He  may  be  able  to  find  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  She  is  con- 
fident, of  course,  that  her  wicked  father  is  not  implicated.  It 
is  but  natural  that  she  should  feel  as  she  does.  Yet,  Bostwick 
must  have  known  what  he  was  doing.  It  is  fortunate  that  Gid- 
dings  was  not  arrested — fortunate  for  her — and  that  the  good- 
hearted  old  Chief  hit  upon  the  scheme  to  place  him  where  he  is. 
I  dare  say  he  is  safe  enough  there,  under  the  circumstances." 

It  was  now  necessary  for  Enid  to  take  Margaret  into  her 
confidence.  Her  mother  and  Mrs.  Holt  must  also  be  apprised 
of  the  situation.  She  said  to  Margaret  that  there  might  be  no 
end  to  disclosures  in  regard  to  the  abduction  should  Giddings' 
part  in  it  become  known. 

"And  no  limit  to  the  number  of  persons  involved,"  Margaret 
added.  "I  am  sure  that  father  has  often  contributed  money 
for  political  purposes.  This  abduction  is  a  miserable  piece  of 
politics,  and  someone  is  paying  the  expenses." 

"More  than  one,  Margery.  Father  says  there  is  a  perfect 
organization  among  those  interested  in  defeating  the  Purchase 
bill." 

The  probability  of  Martha  Giddings'  secret  becoming  known 
was  now  quite  remote,  for  there  was  no  telling  who  might  be 
involved,  or  how  "high  up"  it  would  be  necessary  to  go  if  the 
judicial  machinery  were  once  put  in  motion. 


WOMAN'S     APPEAL     TO     WOMAN  255 

At  first  Bolston  seemed  dumfounded  when  Gray  explained 
matters  to  him.  Yet  he  was  soon  sympathizing  with  Miss  Gid- 
dings  in  her  great  misfortune.  This  led  him  to  acquiesce,  ten- 
tatively, in  her  plan  to  save  herself  from  humiliation  and  dis- 
grace, and,  perhaps,  from  the  loss  of  Asher  Wells'  respect,  if 
not  his  love.  He  did  not  know  Asher  Wells ;  therefore  he  could 
not  judge  as  to  the  extent  to  which  he  would  exert  himself,  nor 
what  sacrifice  he  would  be  willing  to  make  to  save  Martha; 
whether,  when  the  storm  came,  should  this  happen,  he  would 
not  permit  her  to  suffer  alone  by  breaking  off  their  engagement. 

"It  is  a  strange  world,"  said  he,  "filled  with  a  great  variety 
of  human  beings,  selfish  for  the  most  part,  and  many  of  them 
cold-blooded  to  the  point  of  cruelty.  We  have  no  means  of 
classifying  Mr.  Wells.  Again,"  he  continued,  "if  we  succeed 
in  securing  a  confession  from  Giddings,  we  would  be  obliged  to 
use  it  against  him.  The  promise  of  immunity  to  Giddings,  or 
setting  him  free  as  the  bounty  of  any  admissions  he  might 
make,  would  not  help  his  daughter.  If  Andy  Akers  is  brought 
into  court,  Giddings'  reputation  will  certainly  be  assailed,  and 
the  girl,  whom  we  would  be  glad  to  save  from  disgrace,  must 
thereby  be  exposed  to  contumely.  Verily,  my  friend,  it  looks 
as  if  we  had  been  erecting  a  house  of  cards." 

"I  realize  the  predicament  we  are  in,"  replied  Grey.  "Shall 
the  law  be  vindicated  at  the  cost  of  this  girl's  hope  and  happi- 
ness to  avenge  a  wrong  for  which  she  was  in  no  way  responsi- 
ble?" 

"That  is  it  in  a  small  nutshell,"  replied  Bolston. 

"It  is  such  things  as  these  that  try  one's  heart  to  the  break- 
ing point,"  continued  Grey.  "I  would  have  done  what  Bost- 
wick  did  in  this  case — only  I  am  afraid  I  would  have  turned 
.  Giddings  loose,  with  the  appeal  of  this  girl  pounding  at  my  ear 
drums." 


256  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Giddings  is  more  securely  in  our  power,"  suggested  Bols- 
ton,  "than  if  he  were  under  lock  and  key." 

"If  it  were  he  alone,"  replied  Grey,  "we  might  view  the  sit- 
uation with  complacency.  This  is  but  one  example  among  ten 
thousand  of  the  direful  consequences  of  consolidation's  ironshod 
rule.  It  is  the  innocent  that  are  made  to  suffer  when  the  crisis 
comes." 

Yet,  Martha  Giddings  was  not  to  know  even  of  the  tentative 
conclusions  they  had  reached ;  nor  was  it  the  part  of  wisdom  to 
allow  her  to  return  to  Washington.  She  must  remain,  for  the 
present,  as  she  was  now  become  an  important  factor  in  the  un- 
raveling of  the  mystery;  and  those  who  instigated  the  abduc- 
tion are  destined  to  undergo  a  trial  that  will  test  their  nerve  ca- 
pacity— a  trial  not  provided  for  in  the  laws  against  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors.  Roberts'  genius  will  surely  be  taxed  be- 
yond all  precedent.  Nemesis  is  still  abroad,  and  the  sword 
of  Damocles  gleams  menacingly  above  the  heads  of  the  af- 
frighted offenders. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  HAIR  TRUNK 

Ah !  My  Philosopher  friend  is  on  the  stairway ;  I  know  his 
footsteps.  Until  now  he  has  not  come  to  see  me  within  a  fort- 
night. I  was  about  to  tell  you  further  of  Mrs.  Holt's  kindli- 
ness toward  Martha  Giddings,  but  I  always  lay  aside  my  pen 
out  of  consideration  for  any  visitor  who  succeeds  in  persuading 
the  front  hall  factotum  that  he  or  she  will  be  welcome  in  my 
smoky  den,  and  the  Philosopher,  who  is  now  at  my  door,  has 
never  failed  to  do  so.  I  am  now  to  be  regaled  with  some  rare 
theme  set  out  in  phrases  replete  with  sublimated  wisdom. 

But  my  friend  does  not  seem  to  be  in  a  reminiscent  mood  this 
morning.  He  appears  to  be  nervous,  as  if  deeply  troubled,  and, 
having  returned  my  greeting  rather  unceremoniously,  he  has 
taken  up  a  little  volume  of  Ruskin  and  is  soon  lost  in  the  myth- 
ology of  the  Greeks — the  Homeric  vision  of  Athene  the  Re- 
strainer,  who  helped  Bellerophon  to  put  a  bridle  on  Pegasus, 
and  otherwise  to  harness  the  Harpies.  It  is  a  fascinating  ex- 
position of  the  gods  of  old ;  and  the  Philosopher  is  so  absorbed 
in  it  he  may  not  stir  nor  speak  for  hours  and  hours. 

I  was  about  to  take  up  my  pen  when,  just  then,  he  dropped 
the  volume  on  his  lap  and,  turning  to  me,  broke  the  silence  with 
a  guffaw  of  laughter. 

"You  amuse  me  exceedingly,"  said  he. 

I  did  not  reply,  but  waited  for  him  to  explain  the  reason  for 
his  exhilaration. 


258  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Now,  I  dare  say,"  he  went  on,  "that  by  this  time  you've 
convinced  yourself  of  the  great  importance  of  the  message  which 
you  hope  soon  to  deliver  to  the  multitude,  who,  if  they  read  it 
at  all,  will  refuse  to  profit  by  the  moral  it  contains.  But  I, 
sir,  have  done  something  just  now  that  will  make  two  deserv- 
ing and  appreciative  creatures  very  happy.  I  have  torn  up  my 
last  will  and  testament,  by  which  my  fortune  was  to  have  been 
distributed  after  the  nature  of  public  endowments,  and,  instead 
of  bestowing  it  to  the  indirect  benefit  of  the  masses,  after  my 
demise,  I  have  given  a  great  share  of  it  in  cash  to  a  worthy 
young  relative  who,  I  find,  has  been  devoting  herself  assidu- 
ously, almost  religiously,  to  the  care  of  her  invalid  mother,  hav- 
ing foregone  an  advantageous  offer  of  marriage  in  order  to  in- 
dulge this  filial  duty." 

"You  are  an  altruist  as  well  as  a  philosopher,"  I  remarked. 

"It  is  kind  of  you  to  say  so,  sir,"  he  replied.  "In  the  course 
of  life's  voyage  we  form  peculiar  notions  about  many  things 
which  at  first'  appear  to  have  been  settled  beyond  intervention. 
And  all  suddenly  we  awake  to  a  realization  that  convention- 
ality, as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  very  much  awry.  It  is  then  that  we 
begin  to  doubt,  and  to  wonder  if,  after  all,  the  scheme  of  social 
usage  which  the  sages,  centuries  ago,  designed  for  our  guidance 
and  control  was  laid  as  it  should  have  been;  whether  we  have 
not,  all  along,  proceeded  contrary  to  the  laws  of  a  higher  power. 
Well,  sir,  our  scheme  of  endowment  is  a  mistake.  The  real 
philanthropist  is  he  who,  finding  worthy  subjects — and  there 
are  many  of  them — goes  forth  to  relieve  the  living  individual 
directly.  But  I  ought  not  to  be  boasting  of  my  own  beneficence. 
Good  morning,  sir."  And  my  friend  hastened  away. 

After  he  was  gone  I  fell  to  thinking  of  the  far  stretch  that 
lies  between  philosophy  and  the  matters  with  which  I  am  dealing, 
and  yet  how  easily  I  had  managed  to  divert  the  thoughts  of  this 
follower  of  Socrates  from  those  lofty  currents  where  Athene 


THE     HAIR     TRUNK  259 

is  wont  to  soar  to  the  lower  altitudes  where  the  Harpies  play 
their  mischievous  pranks. 

So,  now,  I  am  encouraged  to  believe  that  in  due  time  I  may 
be  able  to  fetch  him  away  from  the  latter,  and  fasten  his  great 
mind  even  upon  the  worldly  wickedness  of  such  as  Akers, 
Roberts  &  Co. 

But,  to  my  task  again.  It  must  be  that  Mrs.  Holt  had  been 
moved  by  altruistic  impulse,  as  was  my  Philosopher  friend, 
and,  having  made  some  convincing  discoveries  in  this  direction, 
she,  too,  had  been  impressed  with  the  thought  that  there  are 
many  flaws  in  our  accepted  system  of  beneficence. 

By  no  possible  way  that  she  was  able  to  make  out  could  even 
the  income  on  her  husband's  enormous  fortune  be  disposed  of  as 
rapidly  as  it  accumulated.  So  that,  when  Martha  Giddings, 
whom  she  had  never  heard  of  until  that  distressed  creature 
came  to  San  Enrique  and  was  put  aboard  the  "Penelope"  by 
Grey  as  a  shelter  from  the  storm,  came  unexpectedly  to  the 
good  woman's  notice,  her  kindly  feelings  quite  overcame  her, 
and  at  the  first  opportunity  she  asked  the  young  lady  if  she 
was  in  financial  distress,  intending,  of  course,  to  offer  abundant 
relief.  Receiving  a  negative  reply,  Mrs.  Holt  inquired  fur- 
ther how  she  might  assist  her.  It  was  at  this  moment  that 
Enid  Grey  took  the  multi-millionaire's  wife  into  her  further 
confidence,  apprising  her  of  Martha's  deplorable  situation. 
Thenceforward,  Mrs.  Holt  held  forth  unremittingly  in  advo- 
cacy of  Martha  Giddings'  cause. 

"What  boots  it,"  said  she  to  Margaret,  "if  the  poor  girl's 
dissolute  parent  did  connive  at  Twain's  abduction,  if  he  really 
was  abducted?  Are  the  sins  of  the  father  to  be  visited  upon 
his  innocent  child?  It  is  too  absurd  to  be  thought  of  for  a 
single  instant,  to  be  sure,  and  cannot  be  tolerated." 

She  said  as  much,  with  greater  emphasis,  to  Grey  and  Bol- 
ston  that  very  day.  No  doubt  this  strengthened  them  in  their 


260  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

purpose,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  might  be  agree- 
able to  their  hostess. 

And  yet,  amidst  these  recurring  shadows,  and  although  no 
word  or  even  the  vaguest  rumor  had  been  received  concerning 
Twain,  Mrs.  Holt  and  her  guests  did  not  permit  the  depression 
of  the  unusual  business  in  which  they  were  engaged  to  weigh 
them  down  completely.  Aside  from  the  exchange  of  dinners 
and  teas,  on  the  yacht  and  at  the  Alcade's  house,  they  had 
spent  the  time  in  short  excursions  along  the  coast,  both  by 
land  and  by  water.  Eventually,  when  it  was  discovered  that 
lack  of  sufficient  exercise  was  bringing  in  its  wake  the  inevitable 
results — indigestion  and  additional  adipose — it  was  at  once 
decided  that  those  of  the  little  company  who  chose  to  do  so 
would  invade  the  hills  on  horseback. 

"Such  miserable  looking  animals,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Holt 
when  talking  with  Doctor  Richardson  about  it.  "Such  little 
beasts,  too — mules  aren't  they?" 

"Native  burros,  madam,"  replied  the  Doctor.  "Yes,  they 
are  quite  small,  and  yet  very  strong;  they  will  carry  their  own 
weight  easily." 

Mrs.  Holt  winced;  she  had  taken  on  flesh  at  a  rapid  rate 
since  coming  to  San  Enrique,  and  thought  the  Doctor  might  be 
guying  her,  in  retaliation  for  her  deprecations  of  the  medical 
profession.  But  the  Doctor  did  not  perceive  her  agitation,  as 
she  imagined,  for  he  proceeded  to  expatiate  upon  the  rudeness 
of  things  in  Mexico. 

This  new  diversion  was  attended  by  some  difficulty  in  pro- 
viding animals  for  all  of  the  party. 

"Only  men's  saddles,"  said  Bolston.  "Do  you  think  the 
ladies — " 

"Oh,  we've  saddles  of  the  other  kind  on  board,  plenty  of 
them,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Holt.  "Clairisse  attended  to  that." 

"Good,"  rejoined  Bolston.     "How  thoughtful  of  her." 


•THE     HAIR     TRUNK  261 

"Won't  it  be  jolly!"  exclaimed  Margaret.  "Such  fun.  I 
long  to  start.  Mother,  dear,  we  have  left  the  world  of  artifice 
and  glitter  far  behind,  and  are  living  with  nature  again." 

But  Mrs.  Holt  did  not  partake  of  her  daughter's  enthusiasm. 

"Your  mother  will  remain  with  the  'Penelope',"  she  replied. 
"I'm  told  that  there  are  many  centipedes  and  tarantulas  in  the 
hills.  Besides,  I  do  not  like  horses,  either,  the  kind  they  have 
here." 

"How  many  will  there  be?"  inquired  Bolston,  counting  on 
his  fingers.  "You,  Grey,  of  course;  you  are  a  good  horseman; 
I  have  seen  you  in  the  saddle.  And  Mrs.  Grey ;  she  rides  well. 
The  young  ladies — none  better,  I  am  sure ;  three  ladies  and  one 
gentleman.  Don  Jose,  the  Doctor  and  I,  but  we  do  not  count." 

"One  more,  Mr.  Bolston,"  interposed  Mrs.  Holt.  "My 
housekeeper,  Clairisse,  must  go  also.  She  was  formerly  a 
trained  nurse,  and  can  ride  a  broncho  if  necessary.  I  brought 
her  especially  for  Mr.  Twain,  the  poor  soul !  And  the  Senora 
and  her  daughter,  too.  I  am  surprised  that  you  have  forgotten 
them,  Mr.  Bolston." 

"Pardon  me,  Mrs.  Holt,"  said  he,  "I  had  not  forgotten 
them." 

"Then,  I  beg  your  pardon,"  she  replied,  giving  him  a  search- 
ing look,  for  by  this  time  he  was  quite  red  about  the  face  and 
neck,  and  the  others  were  smiling,  the  Doctor  audibly. 

Don  Jose,  under  the  Englishman's  directions,  had  pressed 
into  service  ten  of  the  best  saddle  animals  in  the  village.  They 
were  not  Arabs,  it  is  true — such  as  the  steeds  that  Ninus  col- 
lected, six  thousand  years  ago,  for  his  expedition  into  Egypt, 
even  before  Ninevah  was  built.  But  these  unpedigreed  animals 
could  "carry  their  own  weight,"  as  the  Doctor  had  averred. 
For  Grey,  whose  eighty  and  one  hundred  pounds  furnished  an 
item  that  must  be  considered,  the  Don  set  aside  his  own,  a 
good-sized  mustang  of  agreeable  gait  and  disposition.  The 


262  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Don,  owing  probably  to  the  simple  life  which  had  so  impressed 
Mrs.  Holt,  tipped  the  scales  at  something  like  a  hundred  and 
a  quarter ;  he  would  ride  one  whose  size  conformed  to  his  lesser 
weight. 

For  Mrs.  Grey  and  the  young  ladies,  four  local  steeds,  fav- 
orites among  the  village  senoras,  the  few  who  were  given  to 
horseback  exercise,  were  selected.  The  Senora  and  Juanita 
had  their  own  animals ;  and  to  Clairisse — poor  woman,  she  had 
not  been  in  a  saddle  for  almost  two  years — a  typical  broncho 
was  assigned;  for  had  not  her  mistress  declared  she  was  equal 
to  it?  Clairisse  herself  did  not  object,  although  the  appear- 
ance of  the  animal  was  decidedly  against  him.  When  the  un- 
gainly and  dilapidated  beast  was  brought  out  Grey  laughed 
heartily. 

"Bolston,"  he  exclaimed,  "where  in  the  name  of  grace  did 
you  find  that  hair  trunk?  Is  this  the  moulting  season  in 
Mexico?" 

"No;  Dan  moulted  when  he  was  quite  young,"  replied  the 
Englishman,  "and  the  hair  has  never  grown  out.  Dan  has  a 
history." 

"Well,  I  can  easily  believe  it,"  exclaimed  Grey.  "Daniel 
looks  as  if  he  might  have  been  in  the  lion's  den  at  some  remote 
period  of  his  existence." 

"Poor  Dan!"  said  Margaret,  stroking  his  neck.  "They  are 
making  fun  of  you." 

And  Dan  wagged  his  only  whole*  ear  as  if  to  express  his  un- 
concern, or  it  may  have  been  on  account  of  his  appreciation  of 
her  solicitude.  Dan  had  lost  most  of  his  other  ear  in  conse- 
quence of  an  altercation  he  once  had  with  a  Texas  cow  puncher, 
who  bet  ten  dollars  that  he  could  ride  him,  and  lost  the  money. 
That  was  years  ago,  shortly  before  Daniel  came  to  judgment. 

"But  what  about  Dan's  history,  Mr.  Bolston,"  inquired  Enid, 
as  the  party  rode  away  in  single  file  toward  the  western  hills, 


THE     HAIR     TRUNK  263 

Don  Jose  in  the  lead  and  the  Englishman  bringing  up  the  rear, 
so  that  he  might  keep  an  eye  on  the  ladies'  saddle  girths.  "Why 
was  he  named  Dan?"  she  asked,  with  increasing  interest  in  the 
"hair  trunk." 

"It  is  a  mere  tradition,"  replied  Bolston.  "His  real  name  is 
Dandazzler." 

"Dandazzler !"  exclaimed  Margaret.     "How  classical !" 

"Mythological,  I  should  say,"  remarked  Grey. 

"What  does  it  mean,  Mr.  Bolston?"  inquired  Margaret. 

"Up  in  Texas,  where  Dan  sprang  from,  whatever  is  extra- 
ordinary is  accorded  an  extraordinary  name.  For  instance,  a 
man  or  horse  or  anything  possessing  unusual  qualities  is  referred 
to  as  'a  humdinger,'  'a  whirlwind,'  or  'a  crackerjack.'  Mind 
you,  these  are  Texas  terms,  not  mine !  Well,  even  these  appel- 
lations were  too  insipid  to  cover  Dan's  case.  It  was  necessary 
to  coin  a  word  that  would  give  him  special  distinction.  So 
they  called  him  the  Dandazzler." 

"Without  root  or  branch,  from  an  etymological  standpoint," 
suggested  Margaret. 

"No  roots  or  branches  for  bronchos,"  remarked  Grey.  "A 
ball  bat  is  the  right  thing  to  have  within  reach  when  dealing 
with  them." 

"As  the  story  goes,"  continued  Bolston,  "a  ball  bat  had  no 
effect  on  Dan.  They  were  obliged  to  put  iron  boots  on  him, 
with  chains  attached.  Hence  his  dilapidated  condition." 

"Iron  boots  and  chains!"  the  ladies  exclaimed  in  unison. 
"How  cruel!  Does  it  make  you  nervous,  Clairisse?" 

"Oh,  no !     Dan  is  very  good — now." 

"And  why  iron  boots  and  chains,  Mr.  Bolston?"  asked  Mar- 
garet. 

"Well,  no  one  could  ride  this  particular  broncho.  When  he 
had  disabled  two  or  three  cowboys,  after  throwing  them,  and 


264  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

then  jumping  on  them  with  all  four  feet  at  once,  like  a  wild 
deer  on  a  venemous  snake — " 

Just  then  Dan  stepped  into  a  badger  hole,  and  went  down  in 
front,  Clairisse  going  over  his  head  on  to  the  soft  ground.  The 
ladies  screamed.  Dan  extricated  himself  from  the  hole  and, 
turning  away  from  the  trail,  fell  to  eating  grass  on  the  hillside. 
Bolston  was  off  his  horse  in  a  jiffy  and  helped  Clairisse  to  her 
feet.  Being  uninjured,  she  was  soon  back  in  the  saddle,  and 
the  procession  moved  on.  Don  Jose  pulled  his  broad  sombrero 
down  over  his  eyes  to  hide  his  smile;  Grey  let  out  a  great  ha! 
ha !  that  moved  the  echoes. 

"Iron  boots  and  chains  for  a  dear,  gentle,  harmless  thing 
like  that !  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it,  Dan,"  remarked  Mrs. 
Grey,  sympathetically. 

"Go  on,  Mr.  Bolston,  with  the  story,  please,"  said  Enid. 
"Clairisse,  look  out  for  the  holes." 

"A  broncho  boot,"  continued  Bolston,  "consists  of  a  sort  of 
bracelet  of  iron  to  which  is  welded  a  chain  a  foot  or  more  in 
length.  These  anklets  are  clasped  upon  the  animal's  hocks — 
that  is,  an  animal  of  Dan's  sort  before  his  baptism.  Then  he  is 
turned  loose,  with  several  cowboys  using  whips  and  sticks  to 
keep  him  moving.  He  kicks  and  bucks  and  plunges  until  he  is 
completely  exhausted.  He  is  bruised  and  sore  from  the  chains 
with  which  he  has  whipped  himself  into  submission,  and  when 
he  is  subdued  and  lies  prostrate  upon  the  ground,  the  cowboys 
sit  on  him,  crawl  over  him.  He  never  kicks  or  bucks  again, 
and  ever  after  the  rattle  of  a  chain  makes  him  tremble  with 
fear.  Then  the  anklets  are  removed,  and  the  broncho  is  what 
they  call  busted" 

"Who  could  have  had  the  heart  to  invent  such  a  torture?"  ex- 
claimed Margaret. 

"It  is  said  he  was  a  man  from  New  England,  who  had  a 
cattle  ranch  in  Texas,"  replied  Bolston. 


THE     HAIR     TRUNK  265 

"No  doubt  about  that,"  remarked  Grey.  "Who  else,  other 
than  a  Yankee,  would  have  thought  of  conserving  the  surplus 
power  of  a  broncho  and  then  hitching  him  to  it  in  such  fashion 
as  to  have  him  do  his  own  busting?" 

"Dan,  according  to  the  tradition,"  continued  Bolston, 
"thought  about  the  matter  a  good  deal.  His  feelings  were 
deeply  injured;  and,  finally,  finding  himself  at  large  one  day, 
he  came  across  the  line  into  Mexico,  expatriating  himself,  as  it 
were,  from  Texas." 

"Bolston,"  said  Grey,  "that  is  a  good  story  anyway,  no  mat- 
ter how  it  came  that  the  Dandazzler  got  into  the  hair-trunk 
class.  Why  have  you  not  told  me  the  story  until  now  ?" 

"I  hadn't  thought  to  tell  it." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say,"  inquired  Grey  in  an  incredulous  tone, 
"that  you  haven't  thought  to  tell  as  good  a  one  as  that  until 
now?  Honestly,  Bolston,  had  you  yourself  ever  heard  it  be- 
fore today?" 

"Arthur,  dear,  you  do  not  mean  to  reflect  upon  Mr.  Bolston's 
veracity?"  protested  Mrs.  Grey. 

"On  the  contrary,  I  pay  him  a  great  compliment,"  he  re- 
plied. 

"A  wonderful  imagination,  Mr.  Bolston,"  suggested  Mar- 
garet. "If  Mr.  Grey  is  correct  in  his  conclusions,  you  should 
enter  the  field  o.f  the  dramatist." 

Bolston  smiled  good  naturedly,  when  Juanita  looked  his 
way.  Yet,  he  did  not  refer  to  his  half  jesting  agreement  to 
write  a  play  in  which  she  would  act  the  leading  role,  and  all 
the  people,  good  and  bad,  connected  with  this  tale  would  be 
featured  in  the  program. 

He  was  deeply  in  love  with  her.  This  he  must  have  con- 
fessed to  himself,  although,  having  thought  about  it  a  great 
deal,  it  is  doubtful  if  at  this  moment  he  would  have  confessed 
so  much  to  her.  Unfortunately  for  this  wary,  over-cautious 


266  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Briton,  he  could  not  put  himself  in  Juanita's  place;  nor  see 
with  her  eyes,  nor  feel  with  her  sensitive,  perceptive  heart. 
Was  it  selfishness  that  prompted  him  to  think  altogether  of  his 
own  situation?  Still,  there  is  none  among  all  the  human  pas- 
sions that  is  more  selfish  than  love.  It  was  this  that  was 
consuming  Juanita ;  it  was  another  and  more  practical  phase  of 
love  that  was  absorbing  Ralph  Bolston,  as  he  believed. 

Indulging  the  glowing  reflections  of  his  active  mind,  as 
they  rode  along,  he  was  thinking  of  the  good  fortune  of  Twain, 
who,  the  Englishman  had  no  kind  of  doubt,  must  return  very 
soon  to  have  near  him  always  the  woman  who  loved  him. 

How  vastly  different  it  was  with  himself,  he  thought.  Be- 
fore many  days  he  must  take  final  leave  of  Old  Mexico.  The 
only  woman  that  had  ever  caused  him  to  sigh;  the  one  fair 
creature  who  had  stirred  his  tenderest  emotion,  would  remain — 
if  to  forget  him,  never  by  him  to  be  forgotten. 

Contrive  as  he  might  to  dispel  these  welling  thoughts,  per- 
force he  found  it  necessary,  she  riding  so  gracefully  there  near 
him,  to  give  up  the  effort,  and  to  submit — how  readily  he  alone 
knew — to  the  sweeter  memory  of  her  plaintive  words — the  very 
hills  seemed  to  echo  them  in  his  ears — "if  you  do  not  entirely 
forget." 

On  the  yacht  that  evening  when  they  were  at  dinner — and 
such  appetites  after  the  long  ride! — the  "Penelope's"  cabin 
resounded  with  levity.  Even  Enid  was  moved  to  laughter  at 
the  witty  bandinage.  Her  father  was  persuaded  to  tell  the 
story  of  the  Dandazzler,  although  he  protested  the  author  of  it 
should  not  be  deprived  of  that  privilege,  and  he  gave  it  such 
embellishment  and  so  many  humorous  variations  that  the  Eng- 
lishman commended  him  highly  for  the  power  of  his  creative 
fancy;  whereat  they  were  all  much  amused.  The  editor  him- 
self was  now  the  most  promising  disciple  of  Munchausen. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

FRESH  COMPLICATIONS 

But  there  was  another  diversion  in  store  for  the  excellent 
company  of  the  "Penelope"  and  those  of  the  stone  house  on  the 
hill ;  also  for  the  dusky  inhabitants  of  San  Enrique,  who  already 
considered  themselves  to  have  been  greatly  favored  by  the 
presence  of  so  many  gentle  folk  in  their  midst. 

After  breakfast  the  morning  following  the  jaunt  to  the  hills 
on  horseback,  Enid,  the  Doctor  and  the  Englishman  were 
sitting  beneath  the  awning  of  the  forward  deck.  They  were 
speaking,  as  often  before,  of  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  Holt  in 
having  brought  Enid  to  the  Caribbean  for  her  health. 

"How  fortunate  we  are  to  have  Margaret  with  us,"  said 
Enid.  "She  is  all  sunshine,  the  dear  good  angel,  and  so  de- 
voted." 

"A  rare  girl,  indeed,"  remarked  the  Doctor;  "so  unlike  the 
young  ladies  of  her  monied  station  in  life — too  many  of  them 
given  over  completely  to  the  frivolities  that  appear  to  go  with 
wealth.  Her  father  is  rich  almost  beyond  computation,  hope- 
lessly immersed  in  the  business  of  making  money.  One  would 
suppose  that  his  only  daughter  would  prefer  to  identify  herself 
with  the  titled  aristocracy  of  Europe,  and  finally,  to  bestow 
her  hand,  if  not  her  love,  upon  someone  of  inherited  distinc- 
tion— a  duke  or  a  count  or  something  of  that  sort." 

"Margaret  Holt's  heart  will  precede  her  hand,  Doctor,"  re- 


268  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

plied  Enid.  "Should  she  wed  a  titled  foreigner  it  will  be  for 
love's  sake,  not  for  the  distinction  of  it." 

"There  is  a  Russian  captain  of  noble  lineage,  is  there  not?" 
inquired  the  Doctor,  who  was  not  then  aware  of  Page  Bannis- 
ter's sentiments  toward  the  multi-millionaire's  daughter.  Nor 
could  he  have  believed  she  would  be  likely  to  bestow  her  hand 
upon  a  representative  of  the  struggling,  plodding  proletariat, 
great  leader  and  advocate  though  he  was.  But,  as  yet,  he  did 
not  know  of  Margaret's  many  rare  gifts  of  character,  and  the 
little  value  she  placed  upon  her  vast  fortune  in  money. 

"Nothing  serious,  I  am  sure,"  replied  Enid.  "Margaret's 
brother  and  the  Captain  are  chummy.  They  sailed  for  the 
north  together  in  young  Holt's  dirigible  just  before  we  left 
the  Capital." 

"It  is  reported  that  young  Holt  is  a  good  loser,"  remarked 
the  Doctor,  laughingly.  "Mere  gossip,  no  doubt." 

Just  then  Margaret  came  upon  the  deck,  and  the  Doctor,  to 
change  the  subject,  at  the  Englishman's  expense  if  he  could, 
spoke  of  "the  fair  Juanita"  and  wondered  how  she  was  this 
morning.  Margaret  overheard  the  Doctor's  inquiry  and  ex- 
claimed : 

"Isn't  she  delightful?  What  a  pity  she  must  live  in  this 
sleepy  little  town." 

"It  will  not  be  for  long,  Miss  Holt,"  replied  the  Doctor. 
"Some  brave  knight  will  come  to  storm  the  parental  battle- 
ments and  -carry  her  away.  Such  charming  beauty  as  hers 
cannot  remain  permanently  secluded." 

If  Bolston's  pulse  throbbed  somewhat  faster  as  a  result  of 
the  Doctor's  enthusiastic  eulogy  of  Juanita  he  alone  was  aware 
of  that  fact ;  yet  Jie  could  not  hide  the  color  that  came  in  his 
swarthy  face. 

"I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  our  friend  here  could 
have  had  the  heart  to  conceal  from  me  the  existence  of  the 


FRESH     COMPLICATIONS  269 

charming  girl  until  after  the  'Penelope'  came,"  continued  the 
Doctor.  "Do  you  think  it  fair,  Miss  Holt?"  Through  the 
tail  of  his  eye  he  was  regarding  Bolston  closely.  Enid  and 
Margaret  were  greatly  amused. 

"Being  a  married  man,  Doctor,  I  did  not  suppose  you  would 
be  interested,  even  in  so  lovely  a  woman  as  she,"  replied  Bol- 
ston, dryly. 

"A  lovely  woman !"  exclaimed  the  Doctor.  "The  term  is  too 
tame.  An  incomparable,  intoxicating,  a  palpitating  beauty 
would  be  the  more  fitting  designation.  How  could  you  for- 
get—" 

"And  you,  Doctor,  will  not  forget — that  you  are  ineligible, 
being  a  benedict.  Of  course  you  will  not." 

"But  in  my  transmutation  from  bachelor  to  benedict  I  did 
not  promise  to  become  a  monk.  The  married  man  who  shuts 
his  eyes  or  suppresses  his  senses  in  the  presence  of  ravishing 
charms  such  as  this  remarkable  girl  possesses  indulges  an  in- 
dignity toward  his  wife." 

The  others  laughed  heartily,  but  neither  of  them  made  reply 
to  this  new  interpretation  of  marital  ethics — new  at  least  to 
them.  Then,  indirectly,  the  Doctor  apologized  to  Margaret 
by  bestowing  upon  her  many  compliments.  He  spoke  of  the 
freshness  of  her  cheeks,  the  clearness  of  her  eye,  the  zephyry 
appearance  of  her  hair.  Margaret  blushed,  but  did  not  pro- 
test. She  perceived  the  Doctor's  embarrassment,  after  his 
encomiastic  reference  to  Juanita,  and  was  too  polite  to  add  to 
it,  as  some  women  would  have  done,  by  rudely  declining  to 
accept  second  place  in  his  list  of  beauties. 

At  this  Bolston  excused  himself  and  went  to  join  Mrs.  Holt, 
Mrs.  Grey  and  Martha,  who  had  just  appeared  from  below. 

"A  wonderful  chap — big  enough  to  be  at  the  head  of  a  big 
government,  or  to  lead  a  great  army  in  a  great  war;  so  true 
and  so  unselfish,  too" — was  the  Doctor's  panegyric  on  Bolston 


270  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

as  the  latter  strode  away;  to  all  of  which  the  young  ladies  en- 
thusiastically agreed. 

"Isn't  he  splendid?"  exclaimed  Margaret,  her  eyes  following 
him  admiringly. 

But  what,  among  all  reasonable  possibilities,  could  be  the 
occasion  for  the  commotion  in  the  village  just  then?  Was  it 
a  fire?  By  no  means;  the  adobe  buildings  were  not  insured. 
That  were  unnecessary,  for  they  were  as  immune  from  the 
ravages  of  flame  as  an  asbestos  curtain  in  a  theatre.  Nor  could 
it  be  a  horserace,  which  was  a  too  common  event  in  that  locality. 

"Ah,  maramlloso!"  See  the  black,  moving  object  in  the 
sky.  "Un  globo  aerostalico!"  It  was  a  rare  sight  for  the 
dusky  denizens  of  San  Enrique.  A  very  few  of  them  had  ever 
been  far  enough  away  from  home,  and  then  only  on  fiesta  occa- 
sions, to  see  a  balloon  ascension.  Yet,  this  balloon  had  no  rope 
attached  to  it  to  keep  it  from  getting  away  and  with  which  to 
draw  it  back  to  earth  again  like  the  balloons  at  fair  time  in 
Tampico.  This  one  was  moving  steadily  forward,  at  a  good 
rate  of  speed.  Stranger  still,  it  was  curving  downward  toward 
San  Enrique.  Now  it  was  over  the  little  cemetery;  they  could 
hear  the  whir  of  its  machinery;  it  was  settling  gracefully  in 
some  vacant  lots  back  of  the  church.  "Pasmoso!  Extraordin- 
ario!"  It  had  stopped.  A  man  was  alighting  from  its  carrier. 
There  were  three  men.  By  this  time  almost  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  the  town  had  gathered  around  the  remarkable  object, 
Susie  with  the  rest,  for  she  had  gone  to  the  village  on  an  er- 
rand. 

"Is  this  San  Enrique?"  inquired  one  of  the  men,  a  likely- 
looking  young  fellow  dressed  in  a  khaki  suit  of  becoming  make, 
with  leggings  and  a  close  fitting  cap  to  match. 

"Si,  senor,"  from  several  natives  who  had  ventured  to  come 
within  speaking  distance. 

"Then  we  will  anchor  here,"  said  the  young  man  to  his  two 


FRESH     COMPLICATIONS  271 

companions,  who  were  similarly  clad  and  of  decidedly  foreign 
appearance. 

The  one  who  made  the  inquiry  in  regard  to  San  Enrique  was 
Stephen  Holt;  his  companions  were  Captain  Mikleskoff  and 
Ivan  Petroffsky,  the  navigator. 

When  Young  Holt  and  the  prospective  Russian  count  board- 
ed the  "Penelope"  the  loving  mother  was  amazed,  astonished 
almost  beyond  utterance.  She  gathered  her  son  to  her  bosom 
and  shook  hands  with  the  Captain,  cordially. 

"Stephen !  you  dear  boy,"  she  exclaimed  when  she  found  her 
tongue,  "what  does  this  mean?  Where  did  you  come  from, 
and  when?" 

"Just  now,  mother — from  the  Capital;  Dad  is  well.  We 
thought  it  would  be  a  good  joke  to  surprise  you." 

Soon  the  new  arrivals  were  surrounded  by  the  others,  who 
congratulated  them  upon  their  fine  descension  into  the  village. 

"But  how  about  the  north  pole,  Stephen?"  asked  Margaret, 
with  a  rippling  laugh. 

"Oh,  we  went  up  that  way  as  far  as  any  of  them,  I  reckon. 
Go  look  for  our  tracks !" 

"Had  anyone  seriously  supposed  the  Russian  would  go  about 
looking  for  the  north  pole,  in  his  present  state  of  mind,  and 
stay  on  the  job?"  said  Grey,  aside,  to  the  Doctor. 

Now,  San  Enrique,  as  heretofore  indicated,  was  a  very  small 
town,  devoid  of  excitements.  There  were  no  theaters  or  other 
places  of  amusement  where  the  restless  spirit  of  Stephen  Holt 
could  be  gratified ;  no  inducement  to  midnight  revelling  on  the 
Rialto,  where  the  surplus  energies  of  erotic  youth  might  be 
exchanged  for  next  morning  headaches  and  tousled  fine 
linen — nothing,  indeed,  which  would  stir  the  police  to  the 
exercise  of  authority  to  preserve  the  peace  and  require  a  ten 
dollar  tip  to  "say  nothing  about  it." 


272  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"The  place  is  dead  and  buried,"  exclaimed  Stephen  to  his 
mother.  "What  can  one  do  here  to  enjoy  one's  self?" 

"Not  so  bad,  Stephen;  there  are  some  excellent  people  here — 
the  Alcalde,  his  gracious  wife  and  their  charming  daughter; 
she  is  so  beautiful." 

"Do  you  hear,  Captain — a  beautiful  girl !  We  will  make 
love  to  her,  and  then  carry  her  away  in  the  dirigible,  the  sweet 
young  thing.  What  a  romance !" 

Stephen  Holt  was  seldom  serious  about  anything.  He  was 
overflowing  with  youthful  spirit — adventurous,  reckless,  par- 
ticularly so  with  his  father's  money.  However,  without  the 
least  foreknowledge  of  what  was  in  store  for  him,  he  had  come 
to  slumbering,  somnolent  San  Enrique  for  a  decidedly  new  ex- 
perience— new  at  least  in  its  consequences  to  him. 

Juanita  Guerrero,  from  the  veranda  of  the  stone  house  on 
the  hill  that  witnessed  Ralph  Bolston's  first  enthrallment,  ob- 
served the  descending  dirigible,  and  through  the  long  glass,  as 
Susie  termed  it,  had  seen  the  three  strangers  step  from  the 
carrier.  Being  familiar  with  the  uses  of  aircraft  and  having 
heard  Mrs.  Holt  speak  regretfully  of  her  son's  flight  to  the 
north  pole,  she  found  no  difficulty  in  guessing  the  meaning  of  it. 

Ah !  it  would  be  so  very  pleasant  for  Miss  Holt  to  have  the 
Russian  captain  near  her,  mused  Juanita — "if  she  loves  him  as 
I  love  Ralph,"  she  said,  aloud,  so  that  she  might  hear  his  very 
name,  and  recall  for  the  thousandth  time  the  scene  on  the  great 
steel  pier  at  Tampico. 

"It  was  there !  there !  there !" — looking  at  her  pretty  hand — 
"that  I  felt  the  pressure  of  his  warm  lips — precious  hand !  I, 
too,  will  kiss  you — for  him.  There !  Why  do  you  blush, 
blessed  hand?  Now  you  are  white  again.  Is  it  because  you 
have  some  fear  ?  He  does  not  love  you  ?  Ah !  you  blush  once 
more.  He  does  love  you.  He  will  come  soon  to  us — to 


FRESH     COMPLICATIONS  273 

kiss — you — yes,  many  times.  I  will  try  so  hard  not  to  be 
jealous  of  you  in  your  happiness,  dear  hand  of  mine !" 

In  pursuance  of  Stephen's  desire  that  there  should  be  some 
excitement  in  San  Enrique — the  town  that  was  "dead  and 
buried" — his  devoted  mother  felt  it  was  incumbent  upon  her  to 
provide  some  kind  of  amusement  for  him.  But  what  should  it 
be?  He  was  "such  a  good  boy"  at  their  mountain  home  during 
the  early  summer,  she  was  encouraged  to  hope  he  might  be- 
come interested  in  the  quaint  architecture  of  the  village,  or  in 
an  excursion  to  Tampico  and  the  Panuco  river,  or  perhaps  in 
the  indolent  natives,  or  the  horses — the  "mules."  Having  run 
the  gamut  of  indulgences  belonging  to  the  rich,  it  was  within 
maternal  reasoning  to  believe  that  by  this  time  he  might  be 
satiated  with  automobiles  and  dirigibles. 

"Merciful  heavens!"  she  exclaimed  to  herself;  "I  pray  that 
he  may  never  take  to  bull-bating  and  cock-fighting."  In  a 
measure  she  had  reconciled  herself  to  his  weakness  for  gam- 
bling. 

A  happy  thought !  She  would  invite  the  Senora  and  Juan- 
ita  to  come  aboard  the  yacht  for  dinner  that  evening.  It 
would  be  pleasant  for  the  Captain,  too.  Why  had  she  not 
thought  of  it  before?  And  so  it  fell  out  that  Stephen  and  the 
Captain,  having  attired  themselves  in  the  regulation  dress 
from  their  wicker  chests  in  the  dirigible  carrier,  were  presented 
by  Mrs.  Holt  to  the  female  portion  of  the  Guerrero  household. 

Something  has  been  said  of  the  impression  Miss  Guerrero 
made  upon  Ralph  Bolston  on  the  occasion  of  their  first  meet- 
ing ;  how  the  circumspect  Englishman  had  struggled  to  subdue 
his  feelings  of  admiration,  and  how,  finally,  he  had  been 
obliged  to  admit  to  himself  that  the  task  was  too  great,  and  to 
her  that  she  was  the  most  beautiful  woman  he  had  ever  met. 

With  Stephen  Holt  the  case  was  entirely  different.  He  did 
not  attempt  to  conceal  his  astonishment,  nor,  except  in  the 


274  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

remotest  degree,  to  curb  his  ardor.  He  devoured  Juanita  with 
his  eyes — big  blue  eyes  like  his  sister's,  the  Captain  had  so 
often  been  reminded ;  he  embarrassed  her  with  his  smiles.  She 
was  not  at  all  like  some  other  girls  he  had  known,  and  yet, 
something  like — more  like,  perhaps,  in  that  she  was  more  fresh 
and  wholesome;  more  beautiful  in  form,  far  more  in  feature. 
And  did  ever  womankind  possess  such  ravishing  eyes,  such 
teeth,  or  mouth  or  tempting  lips?  None  within  the  range  of 
his  knowledge,  which,  for  one  of  his  age,  had  not  been  con- 
fined to  narrow  limits.  In  his  admiring  eyes  she  was  incom- 
parably beautiful,  furnishing  the  model  of  all  the  perfection 
that  Zeuxis  failed  to  find  in  combination,  after  painting  the 
boy  and  the  grapes,  in  the  hope  of  outdoing  his  young  rival 
Parrhasius. 

"My  soul,  Captain,"  said  he  to  the  Russian,  when  the  ladies 
had  stepped  aside,  "isn't  she  a  dream?  Aren't  you  glad  we 
came?" 

The  Captain  was  glad,  and  yet  he  did  not  appear  to  be  en- 
thusiastic, for  as  yet  Margaret  had  not  seemed  to  be  in  any 
haste  to  be  with  him  alone,  thus  giving  him  the  opportunity 
for  which  he  had  come  so  great  a  distance — to  tell  her  that 
even  his  sojourn  in  the  frozen  north  had  not  cooled  his  undying 
passion. 

"Captain,  you  are  unsympathetic.  You're  never  glad  of 
anything  on  my  account." 

"Sorry  for  you,  Stephen,  on  some  accounts,"  replied  the 
Russian,  sententiously. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  demanded  in  a  vexed  and  some- 
what arrogant  tone. 

"Be  careful,  Stephen,"  replied  the  Russian;  "remember  the 
result  of  your  last  escapade — the  blonde  beauty  of  the  Cayenne 
Comedy  Company." 

"What !     Damn  it,  Captain,  you  are  provoking,"  he  replied, 


'FRESH     COMPLICATIONS  275 

moving  toward  the  Russian,  his  face  reddening.  "What  do 
you  know  of  her?  Explain  yourself !" 

"None  of  your  pranks  here,  Stephen,"  continued  the  Rus- 
sian. "Miss  Guerrero  is  not  so  easy — that  is  evident." 

"If  you  insist  upon  your  veiled  allusions,"  replied  Stephen, 
now  thoroughly  angered,  "you'll  answer  to  me  personally,  do 
you  understand?" 

"Not  so  fast,  my  boy,"  was  the  reply.  "I  merely  sought  to 
warn  you  against  your  great  weakness,  but  now  that  you  compel 
me  to  be  more  explicit — well,  you  talked  in  your  sleep  in  the 
compartment  of  the  dirigible  one  night  in  Newfoundland. 
You  may  need  my  help,  my  boy.  I  am  your  friend.  Quiet 
your  nerves ;  the  ladies  are  coming  this  way." 

Stephen  Holt,  indubitable  heir  apparent  to  many  millions, 
was  now  somewhat  subdued.  His  supposed  secret  was  known 
to  Captain  Mikleskoff,  heir  presumptive  to  a  like  number  of 
millions,  dependent,  of  course,  upon  the  heart's  wishes  of  Mar- 
garet Holt.  During  the  remainder  of  the  Guerrero  visit  that 
evening  he  was  more  guarded,  less  impetuous,  in  his  attentions 
towards  Juanita;  so  agreeable,  indeed,  that  when  he  and 
the  Captain  were  taking  their  leave,  after  escorting  the  Senora 
and  her  daughter  to  their  home,  the  young  lady  gave  them  a 
cordial  invitation  to  come  again,  to  which  they  assented, 
Stephen  remarking  in  his  best  style  that  it  would  be  a  great 
disappointment  to  him  if  he  were  not  permitted  to  do  so. 

"But,  Captain,"  said  he  as  they  returned  to  the  yacht,  "what 
man  could  refrain  from  loving  that  adorable  creature — in  an 
honorable  way,  I  mean?" 

"It  is  your  right,  Stephen,  if  you  choose,  and  if  she  does  not 
object." 

"Object!"  he  cried;  "object!  She  will  love  me — she  must! 
she  shall!"  The  Holt  spirit  was  asserting  itself.  In  great 
measure  his  persistence,  when  he  set  his  mind  upon  the  accom- 


276  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

plishment  of  a  purpose,  was  not  unlike  that  of  his  strenuous 
father,  who,  according  to  a  favorite  boast  of  his  own,  never 
permitted  "hell  or  high  water"  to  thwart  him.  It  was  through 
the  pursuit  of  this  inflexible  policy  that  he  had  acquired  his 
wealth,  never  halting  to  consider  the  consequences  to  others. 

At  no  time  in  his  career,  before  then,  had  Stephen  ever 
found  himself  in  a  situation  where  it  was  necessary  to  take 
account  of  the  difference  between  the  potency  of  love  and  the 
power  of  wealth.  It  was  a  distinction  that  had  never  occurred 
to  him.  What  wealth  could  not  obtain  for  him  would  not  be 
worth  acquiring.  He  was  conscious  of  the  possession  of  con- 
siderable personal  attraction.  If  in  this  regard  he  should  fail 
to  impress  this  beautiful  girl,  what  would  she  do  when  con- 
fronted with  the  allurement  of  untold  riches?  She  would  fall 
into  his  arms,  of  course.  The  courtship  would  be  brief  but 
business-like.  He  would  possess  her  at  all  hazards. 

"Object!  Not  on  your  life,  Captain,"  he  exclaimed.  "She 
will  be  only  too  glad  to  get  away  from  this  lonesome  place  and 
take  her  proper  position  in  the  big  world  with  me." 

"Perhaps  so,  old  fellow,"  remarked  the  Russian.  "I  wish 
you  both  much  joy.  Only  let  it  be  on  the  square." 

And  if  young  Holt  lost  a  single  moment  in  prosecuting  his 
suit  for  Juanita  Guerrero's  hand  it  was  because  of  his  fond 
mother's  admonitions  against  hasty  marriages.  Yet,  even  this 
did  not  sway  him.  It  was,  his  mother  had  no  doubt,  his  first 
love  affair.  He  would  think  better  of  it  in  due  time.  Per- 
haps she  had  made  a  mistake  in  being  the  intermediary  in 
bringing  them  together.  Already  she  was  ready  for  repentence. 

"For,  Stephen,  my  precious  child,  you  are  so  young,  and  she, 
perhaps — well,  you  see  their  humble  station  in  life.  They  are 
respectable  enough,  to  be  sure;  yet  your  dear  father  would 
never  forgive  me  if  I  did  not  warn  you,  even  forbid  it." 

"Oh,  mother,  she  is  so  fine  in  every  way,  and  with  her  I 


FRESH     COMPLICATIONS  277 

would  be  so  very  happy..  You  would  have  no  further  cause  to 
complain  of  me.  I  would  settle  down  and  be  a  man."  He 
knew  the  art  of  pleading  his  own  cause  with  his  indulgent 
mother." 

"A  great  inducement,  Stephen,"  she  replied,  "but  you  must 
wait.  Besides,  the  Alcalde  and  the  Senora — she  herself  may 
not  feel  as  you  do  about  it." 

"Oh,  I  talked  with  her  today,  mother,  and  she  was  so  nice 
and  agreeable  about  it.  I  told  her — " 

"Stephen!  you  impetuous  boy." 

"And  I  will  marry  her  anyway,  mother.  No  one  will  prevent 
it.  Life  will  be  nothing  to  me  without  her.  I  don't  care  for 
Dad's  money,  if  he  objects." 

"Wait,  and  I  will  talk  with  your  father  about  it,"  she  rea- 
soned. There  now  seemed  nothing  for  her  to  do  except  to  con- 
tend for  time  in  which  her  son's  passion  might  cool. 

"Well,  you  may  talk  with  Dad,  but  I  know  my  own  mind, 
mother,"  he  replied. 

"Go  to  Tampico  and  take  the  Captain.  You  will  find  diver- 
sion there,"  she  argued. 

"If  Juanita  will  go,  too,"  he  replied. 

And  away  he  went  to  the  Guerreros,  to  see  Juanita  and  sug- 
gest a  voyage  in  the  dirigible.  This  boy's  love-making  was  full 
of  youthful  force  and  vigor.  It  was  direct,  so  unlike  Ralph 
Bolston's,  that  Juanita  was  amused  if  not  interested.  No  one 
had  ever  made  love  to  her  after  this  fashion.  Believe  as  few 
of  his  glowing  words  as  she  would,  his  devoted  attentions 
flattered  her. 

"In  all  my  life,"  he  would  declare,  "I  have  never  loved  any- 
one but  you,  sweet  and  adorable  Juanita,  and  never  shall." 
Then  he  would  attempt  to  take  her  hand.  At  such  times  the 
one  that  Ralph  Bolston  had  kissed  so  fervently  would  be 


278  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

safely  beyond  Stephen's  reach;  the  other  one  bewitchingly 
elusive — so  near  and  yet  so  far. 

"Ah,  madre  mio!  Mr.  Holt  asks  me  to  go  in  the  dirigible 
to  Tampico.  What  do  you  think?" 

"De  ningun  modo  (by  no  means)  Juanita.  Ah,  nevair," 
exclaimed  the  Senora.  Woman's  prescience  again — a  mother's 
intuition. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

MRS.   HOLT'S  CAMPAIGN 

But  to  wean  the  vehement  Stephen  from  his  newest  fancy 
would  certainly  test  the  singular  abilities  of  his  resourceful 
mother.  Further  appeals  to  her  son's  reason  (who  that  is 
madly  in  love  has  it?)  would  be  futile;  of  this  she  was  already 
fully  convinced. 

Without  having  any  knowledge  to  the  contrary,  the  good 
woman  had  concluded  that  Miss  Guerrero  would  be  unable  to 
withstand  the  onrush  of  Stephen's  devoted  endeavor,  if,  indeed, 
she  did  not  encourage  it.  Close  observer  though  she  was,  she 
did  not  know — how  could  she  know? — of  Bolston's  capitula- 
tion to  the  .fair  doncellita.  No  more  did  Stephen,  nor  Mar- 
garet; not  even  the  Senora  nor  Don  Jose.  All  but  Stephen, 
however,  might  have  suspected  it.  And,  too,  Juanita  was  dis- 
trustful of  her  own  compelling  powers — that  is,  for  some  rea- 
son entertained  from  the  beginning,  she  lacked  confidence  even 
in  her  subtle  ability  to  impress  the  world-wise  Englishman. 

Nor  had  the  tender  incident  on  the  Tampico  pier  served  to 
completely  reassure  her.  She  could  not  rid  herself  of  an  innate 
dread  of  failure.  It  was  an  entirely  different  incentive  that 
prompted  Bolston's  reserve — first,  his  native  caution;  second, 
his  diplomatic  training,  and,  third,  his  fear  in  regard  to  "the 
wrong  woman." 

Had  it  been  possible  at  this  moment  for  Mrs.  Holt  to  have 


280  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

divined  the  contending  thoughts  in  Juanita's  mind,  the  plans 
that  were  now  revolving  in  her  own  would  have  been  subject 
to  important  emendation,  no  doubt. 

In  this  situation,  she  sought  Margaret  and  the  Captain  on 
the  "Penelope's"  deck  one  afternoon,  and  lost  no  time  in  open- 
ing her  complicated  campaign,  for  she  had  fully  determined 
upon  a  course  to  pursue. 

Almost  a  whole  week  of  tender  luxury  in  the  society  of  Mar- 
garet Holt  had  not  brought  the  polished,  attractive  and  deco- 
rated Russian  any  nearer  the  goal  of  his  ardent  desire.  And 
now,  as  the  days  were  passing  on  the  "Penelope,"  he  found 
himself  in  the  throes  of  a  desperate  effort  to  formulate  new 
terms  of  endearment  by  which  to  win  her  favor.  Yet,  he  had 
not  overlooked  the  fact  that,  as  a  last  resort,  there  was  much 
he  might  say  to  her  estimable  mother,  to  whom  the  customs 
and  people  of  Europe  were  of  such  absorbing  interest  that  he 
had  never  failed  to  hold  her  attention  when  discussing  the 
subject  with  her.  So,  Margaret,  excusing  herself  and  going 
below,  the  Captain  turned  his  attention  to  Mrs.  Holt.  Mar- 
garet was  not  unaware  of  his  new  tactics ;  yet  she  could  not  find 
it  in  her  sunny  nature  to  put  any  obstacle  in  his  way,  had  she 
desired  to  do  so  ever  so  much. 

Stephen's  persistent  passion  for  Juanita  was  now  a  subject 
even  for  the  village  gossips.  There  was  so  little  disguise  about 
it  the  Captain  ventured  to  refer  to  it. 

"Love's  young  dream,  no  doubt,"  replied  Mrs.  Holt.  "They 
will  think  differently  in  time." 

"The  lady  appears  to  be  quite  self-possessed,"  remarked 
the  Russian. 

"A  very  sensible  girl,  Captain.  She  is  older  than  Stephen. 
He  is  a  mere  child — so  inexperienced.  Miss  Guerrero  should 
marry  a  man  twice  his  age,  one  with  a  world  knowledge — Mr. 
Bolston,  for  instance,  or,  still  more  suitable,  yourself,  Captain." 


MRS.     HOLT'S     CAMPAIGN  281 

The  Russian  was  impressed.  More,  he  must  have  experi- 
enced a  thrill  of  astonishment,  for  he  was  facing  an  unexpect- 
ed crisis.  Had  Mrs.  Holt  told  him  that  he  was  not  to  be  con- 
sidered in  the  serious  light  of  a  prospective  son-in-law  she  could 
not  have  made  herself  better  understood.  She  had  used  Bol- 
ston's  name,  he  had  no  doubt,  merely  as  a  cushion  for  himself 
to  fall  upon.  Yet,  the  Captain  resolved  to  make  the  best  of 
the  situation;  he  was  not  to  be  vanquished  at  the  first  onset. 

"A  most  attractive  lady,  I  grant  you,  Mrs.  Holt,"  was  his 
sympathetic  reply.  "But  as  for  me — really,  until  you  were 
kind  enough  not  to  omit  me  from  the  list  of  eligibles,  I  had 
never  given  the  matter  even  a  passing  thought.  Besides,  it 
would  be  ungenerous  in  me,  ignoble  I  may  say,  to  think  of 
supplanting  Stephen  in  her  affections." 

"I  could  quite  agree  with  you,  Captain,"  she  replied,  "if 
they  were  really  serious,  he  so  young  and  she  so  deserving  of 
a  husband  ripe  in  experience  and  wisdom.  I  will  talk  with  the 
Senora  on  the  subject." 

Here  was  a  situation!  It  was  like  two  simultaneous  shots 
from  a  single-barreled  gun  that  was  supposed  not  to  be  loaded. 
To  use  an  expression  that  the  Captain  had  so  often  heard  from 
Stephen,  it  now  began  to  look  as  if  the  Russian  heiress-hunter 
had  "overplayed  his  hand." 

After  several  months  of  effort  on  the  Captain's  part  to  en- 
tice her  love,  Margaret,  having  repeatedly,  yet  gently,  im- 
pressed him  with  the  dubiousness  of  his  suit,  he  had  turned 
hopefully  to  her  mother  in  the  most  confident  expectation  that 
he  would  be  able  to  enlist  her  aid  and  sympathy,  approaching 
the  task  by  the  exercise  of  all  the  deliberation  and  caution  of 
the  trained  diplomat. 

At  the  very  outset,  almost  before  his  campaign  had  actually 
begun,  he  had  been  told,  in  terms  that  could  not  be  miscon- 
strued, there  was  little  hope  for  him ;  that  it  was  advisable  he 


282  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

should  turn  in  another  direction.  And,  as  if  to  emphasize  her 
conclusions,  Mrs.  Holt  now  generously  proposed  that  she  her- 
self would  make  a  personal  appeal  to  Juanita's  mother  in  his 
behalf. 

Closely  scanning  her  determined  features  and  noting  the 
positiveness  of  her  tone,  as  Margaret's  mother  coolly  sealed  his 
fate,  he  began  to  realize  the  uselessness  of  present  persuasion 
or  protest.  All  that  was  now  left  for  him  to  do  was  to  believe 
that  at  some  future  time  he  might  swerve  her  by  making  a 
clean  breast  of  his  predicament ;  by  declaring  his  love  for 
Margaret,  throwing  himself,  in  his  desperation,  upon  the  mercy 
of  her  mother.  Yet,  when  Mrs.  Holt  proposed  that  he  accom- 
pany her  to  the  stone  house  on  the  hill — it  would  be  impolite 
for  him  to  decline  going  with  her — he  abandoned,  for  the  time 
being,  this  last  ray  of  hope,  and,  in  sheer  helplessness,  followed 
her  to  the  Guerrero  home.  Perforce,  he  was  ready  for  the 
sacrifice. 

Having  established  her  prestige  in  the  business  of  adjusting 
the  affairs  of  the  heart,  about  which  Captain  Mikleskoff  had 
once  protested  to  Margaret  he  knew  so  little,  Mrs.  Holt  found 
no  difficulty  in  contriving  to  leave  the  Captain  and  Juanita  on 
the  veranda  while  she  and  the  Senora  proceeded  to  an  upper 
room  to  examine  the  priceless  family  treasures  which  had  been 
handed  down  through  the  generations,  some  of  them  dating 
back  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes  from  Spain. 

"Captain  Mikleskoff  would  greatly  enjoy  seeing  these  quaint 
heirlooms,"  remarked  Mrs.  Holt,  in  an  indifferent  tone.  "He, 
too,  comes  of  a  distinguished  family." 

"So  fine!"  exclaimed  the  Senora.  (This  was  her  favorite 
expression  for  things  superlative.) 

"Yes,"  continued  Mrs.  Holt;  "in  due  time  he  will  be  a 
count." 

"Ah!  muger  de  conde — condesso,  hes  wife.     So  fine!" 


MRS.     HOLT'S     CAMPAIGN  283 

"To  be  sure ;  his  wife  will  be  a  countess." 

"Your  daughtair,  Mess  Margaret,  de  nobale  Captain,  so 
fine!  So  it  is  talk  for  aldeanos"  (the  villagers),  exclaimed  the 
Senora  in  congratulatory  accents. 

"Oh,  no,  not  at  all,"  replied  Mrs.  Holt,  shrugging  her  shoul- 
ders. "No  love,  Senora.  There  must  be  love  in  marriage." 

"Too  bad  it  is,"  said  the  Senora  sorrowfully.  "Mess  Mar- 
garet to  love,  so  fine !" 

"Margaret,  the  dear  child,  is  still  in  possession  of  her  own 
heart,  Senora.  The  right  man  will  come  along  some  day,  no 
doubt,  and  I  will  be  obliged  to  give  her  up,  I  suppose." 

Having  undeceived  the  Senora,  as  she  now  believed,  in  re- 
gard to  the  subject  of  village  gossip,  and,  incidentally,  while 
admiring  the  heirlooms,  having  pointed  to  the  Captain's  dis- 
tinguished lineage  and  promising  prospects,  Mrs.  Holt,  con- 
fident of  her  ability  as  a  maker  and  an  unmaker  of  matches, 
was  ready  for  the  next  move  on  the  matrimonial  carpet,  what- 
ever it  might  turn  out  to  be. 

On  the  veranda  Juanita,  the  tempting  creature,  gracefully 
reclining  in  the  hammock,  the  fatal  guitar  on  her  lap,  was 
cautiously  quizzing  the  Russian.  It  is  not  strange  that  she 
should  have  chosen  as  the  subject  of  her  interrogations  the 
tender  relations  supposed  to  exist  between  Margaret  and  the 
Captain.  Coming,  as  he  recently  had,  from  so  great  a  dis- 
tance, with  no  other  reason  that  could  be  guessed  than  to  join 
Margaret,  was  sufficient  to  excite  friendly  comment. 

Juanita's  secret  in  regard  to  her  attachment  for  the  placid 
Englishman  was  so  well  guarded  that  she  did  not  hesitate  to 
engage  in  bantering  pleasantries  concerning  the  heart-throbs  of 
others ;  and  as  for  the  attentions  of  the  impetuous  Stephen  she 
was  not  disposed  to  evade  retaliation,  for  she  assumed  that 
their  relations  were  well  understood,  even  by  the  gossiping 
villagers. 


284  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

The  Captain  did  undertake  to  counter  her  inquiries  and  sug- 
gestions relative  to  Margaret  and  himself  by  changing  the 
subject  to  Stephen's  fervent  attentions. 

"It  is  true,"  she  replied,  "that  Mr.  Holt  comes  here  quite 
frequently,  and  he  professes  some  interest  in  me ;  yet,  Captain, 
it  is  his  boyish  fancy,  nothing  more.  His  good  mother  disap- 
proves, on  account  of  his  age,  and  that  is  a  sufficient  reason, 
were  there  none  other." 

"Yet,"  replied  the  Captain,  "there  is  an  old  adage  about  love 
and  locksmiths." 

"That  applies  only  when  love  is  intensely  mutual,  Captain. 
Most  women  prize  the  privilege  to  choose,  among  so  many ;  and 
there  is  so  much  time  before  the  age  of  thirty." 

"And  so  little  afterward,"  he  replied  with  a  laugh. 

"If  she  fails  before  then,  she  still  has  her  independence  and 
her  experience  to  aid  her,"  rejoined  Juanita.  "In  her  riper 
judgment  she  may  meet  with  greater  reward,  if  she  waits.  As 
for  me,  there  is  abundant  time ;  I  am  out  of  school  only  a  few 
months,  you  know." 

Juanita  had  succeeded  in  making  it  so  plain  to  the  Cap- 
tain's receptive  mind  that  she  did  not  believe  in  haste,  he  had 
no  doubt  that  Mrs.  Holt  would  be  greatly  relieved.  By  this 
time  he  had  guessed  the  reason  for  her  deep  solicitude;  it  was 
Stephen's  welfare,  not  his,  that  concerned  her. 

The  important  moment  had  now  arrived  for  him  to  resume 
his  campaign  with  Margaret's  mother.  He  would  lose  no  time 
in  assuring  her  that  the  fair  Juanita  was  far  from  being  ready 
to  enter  the  dual  state. 

And  so  it  was  that  the  Captain,  when  Mrs.  Holt  and  the 
Senora  appeared,  was  ready  to  return  to  the  "Penelope,"  eager 
for  an  opportunity  to  declare  himself  without  further  delibera- 
tion. The  coveted  time  came  when  he  and  his  hostess  reached 


MRS.     HOLT'S     CAMPAIGN  285 

the  yacht's  upper  deck,  and  Mrs.  Holt  seated  herself  prepara- 
tory to  receiving  the  Captain's  report  of  progress. 

"It  is  useless,  my  dear  madam,"  began  the  Captain,  "for  any 
man  to  hope  for  recognition  in  that  quarter  at  present.  Poor 
Stephen  will  be  disappointed.  The  young  lady  prides  herself 
upon  the  fact  that  there  is  ample  time,  in  her  case,  to  choose  a 
husband.  This  much  she  vouchsafed  quite  positively  without 
knowing  that  I  might  have  matrimonial  intentions  in  her  direc- 
tion, which  I  may  frankly  say,  my  dear  Mrs.  Holt,  I  have  not. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  but  just  to  you,  to  Miss  Margaret  and  to 
myself,  that  I  should  tell  you  how  exceedingly  happy  I  would 
be  if  you  could  look  with  favor  upon  the  only  desire  of  my 
life.  I  love  your  daughter." 

"And  does  Margaret  reciprocate  your  feelings?"  she  inquired 
in  a  tone  that  was  not  without  sympathy. 

"I  cannot  say  it  with  the  positiveness  that  I  would  like,"  he 
answered;  "yet  I  have  thought  that  she  might  not  be  averse  to 
my  suit,  if  it  is  agreeable  to  you.  My  coming  to  you  at  this 
time  is  intended  to  relieve  you  of  further  effort  with  the  Senora, 
and  to  ask  your  indulgence  of  my  hope." 

"Margaret's  happiness,  my  dear  Captain,  is  so  precious  to  me 
that  I  could  not  find  it  possible  to  interfere,  unless,  to  be  sure, 
I  thought  she  was  about  to  make  a  life's  mistake.  She  must 
decide;  I  can  only  advise,  and  not  until  she  requests  it.  My 
kindly  feelings  toward  you,  Captain,  will  not  be  misconstrued, 
I  am  sure." 

"I  should  despise  myself  if  I  failed  to  understand  or  to  ap- 
preciate your  considerateness,"  he  replied,  "or  to  admire  your 
daughter's  sincerity  and  to  respect  her  for  her  sentiments 
toward  me,  whatever  they  may  be." 

Summing  up  the  situation  a  little  later,  the  Captain  found  it 
impossible  to  delude  himself  with  the  thought  that  he  had  made 
the  least  bit  of  progress.  Resolving  not  to  accept  Mrs.  Holt's 


286  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

declaration  as  an  ultimatum,  he  waited  for  an  opportunity  to 
make  a  final  appeal  to  Margaret.  If  he  found  her  in  the  same 
indefinite  frame  of  mind  in  which  he  left  her  when  last  he 
pressed  his  cause,  he  would  beg  her  not  to  foreclose  him  for- 
ever, but  to  allow  him  to  stimulate  his  existence  in  anticipation. 

When  he  again  unburdened  his  soul  to  the  winsome  Mar- 
garet, not  omitting  to  tell  her  of  his  interview  with  her  mother, 
she  found  it  difficult  to  conceal  her  distress.  The  Captain 
pleaded  with  a  new  fervor.  He  was  intensely  in  earnest,  and 
Margaret's  heart  was  sorely  touched,  as  it  would  have  been  had 
she  found  a  wounded  bird  by  the  roadside.  Such  was  her  sym- 
pathetic nature. 

"Mother  is  right  about  it,  Captain,"  she  replied,  frankly. 
"It  is  a  matter  that  I  must  decide,  for  it  concerns  not  only  my 
own  happiness,  but  the  happiness  of  others.  We  two  have 
been  good  friends.  For  my  part  I  have  sometimes  thought  it 
might  be  something  more,  and  again — but  there,"  giving  him 
her  hand,  which  he  pressed  to  his  lips,  "with  me  it  will  never 
be  anything  less  than  friendship.  Please  do  not  ask  for  more 
than  that — not  now." 

"I  bless  you!"  he  exclaimed.  "With  the  encouragement 
that  you  have  now  given  me,  I  promise  not  to  be  importunate." 

In  truth,  Margaret's  declaration  that  she  might  have  thought 
it  something  more  than  friendship,  but  it  must  not  be  more 
than  that — "not  now" — was  a  mere  repetition;  she  had  said  as 
much  on  previous  occasions,  in  the  days  of  his  passionate  plead- 
ings and  alternate  melancholy  at  the  Blue  Ridge.  Again  he 
was  doomed  to  wait. 

The  status  of  Captain  Mikleskoff  having  been  definitely 
fixed,  for  the  present  at  least,  he  reluctantly  announced  his  in- 
tention of  returning  to  Washington.  Mrs.  Holt  experienced  a 
feeling  of  relief,  not  that  the  Captain's  presence  was  objection- 
able ;  she  was  looking  hopefully  forward  to  the  time  when  the 


MRS.     HOLT'S     CAMPAIGN  287 

enamored  Stephen,  "the  dear  boy,"  would  take  himself  away 
from  San  Enrique  for  good  and  for  all.  She  had  persuaded 
herself  that  he  would  go  away  with  the  Captain,  as  they  had 
come,  in  the  dirigible,  and  that  his  departure  would  mark  the 
end  of  his  passion  for  Juanita  Guerrero.  Such  was  her  abiding 
confidence. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

A  NAVIGATOR'S  NERVE 

Now,  it  so  happened  that  Stephen  was  contriving  some  plans 
of  his  own.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  Holt  nature.  To 
have  yielded  meekly  to  his  mother's  wishes;  to  have  resigned 
the  conquest  of  Juanita's  heart  and  admitted  his  failure  in  the 
controlling  motive  around  which  all  else  now  revolved  in  dull 
obscurity,  would  be  a  reflection  upon  the  reputation  of  his  in- 
domitable and  invincible  sire.  His  sturdy  millionaire  father, 
thus  discredited,  would  feel  humiliated ;  of  this  Stephen  had  no 
doubt.  The  Holt  record  for  "doing  things"  must  be  main- 
tained. In  the  matter  of  success  there  must  be  no  blemish 
upon  the  family  escutcheon.  Thus  persuaded,  Stephen  put 
new  energy  into  his  efforts,  already  at  a  stage  sufficiently  fer- 
vent to  set  a  whole  realm  on  fire. 

When  his  dirigible  was  again  in  the  air,  a  full  mile  above 
the  undulating  hills;  with  his  capable  navigator  at  the  wheel, 
the  airship's  planes  now  set  for  greater  altitudes,  the  blades  of 
the  white  propellers  revolving  at  utmost  speed,  the  morning 
light  from  the  east  striking  them  full  and  fair,  until,  to  the 
Senora  and  Susie,  watching  from  the  veranda,  and  to  many 
others  who  were  witnesses  of  the  flight,  the  purring  wheels,  like 
two  great  chrysanthemums  hanging  gracefully  from  what  re- 
sembled an  oblong,  fantastically-colored  vase — Stephen  emerged 
from  his  luxurious  compartment  at  the  rear  of  the  swaying 


A     NAVIGATOR'S     NERVE  289 

carrier,  closing  the  door  behind  him.  He  spoke  to  the  navi- 
gator. 

"Head  'er  to  the  northwest,"  said  he  in  a  whisper. 

"I  supposed  we  were  going  to  the  San  Madres,"  replied  the 
navigator. 

"To  the  northwest,  Airskootsky."  This  was  a  pleasant,  spor- 
tive term  applied  to  Ivan  Petroffsky  when  Stephen  was  in  a 
condescending  mood. 

"How  far  away?"  inquired  Ivan. 

"To  the  Grand  Canyon — anywhere — New  Mexico — Arizona 
— away  from  the  spying  world." 

Then  Stephen  returned  to  the  compartment.  He  was  not 
there  alone ;  there  was  one  other — Juanita  Guerrero.  She  was 
with  him  by  invitation — a  very  pressing  invitation,  many  times 
repeated  in  the  past  few  days,  yet  never  accepted  until  now. 
At  first  her  mother  had  objected.  Afterward,  when  the  nov- 
elty of  a  dirigible  at  San  Enrique  had  worn  off,  and  Bolston, 
on  his  recent  arrival  from  Washington,  had  flown  in  it  with 
Stephen  to  the  picturesque  San  Madres,  the  Senora's  prejudice 
against  airships  had  been  overcome  in  some  degree.  Surely, 
she  thought,  there  could  be  no  danger,  and  Juanita  would  re- 
turn the  same  day. 

So,  Juanita  was  with  Stephen  in  the  compartment,  and  Ivan 
had  been  instructed  to  take  a  northwesterly  course  for  an  in- 
definite destination.  Of  course  he  would  not  disobey  the  orders 
of  his  affluent  employer. 

It  was  now  time  for  the  midday  meal.  To  have  luncheon 
among  the  clouds  would  be  a  rare  experience  for  Juanita.  So, 
Stephen  touched  a  spring;  a  polished  mahogany  board  came 
down  from  the  wall.  It  filled  the  narrow  space  between 
Juanita  and  him,  as  they  sat  facing  each  other  in  the  wicker 
seats.  Then  he  opened  his  larder.  It  was  filled  with  food  of 
many  varieties  and  in  great  quantity,  sufficient  for  a  long  voy- 


290  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

age.  In  another  cabinet  there  were  divers  bottles,  some  of 
them  containing  special  vintages  not  unlike  that  of  which  Eph 
Fox  and  Eva  Farnum  had  partaken  at  Fox's  private  room  in 
the  C.  Q.  D.  building,  when  he  kissed  Eva  and  complimented 
her  on  her  beauty.  It  was,  indeed,  a  promising  prospect, 
thought  the  millionaire's  son,  who  was  never  quite  so  happy  as 
now. 

In  no  time  at  all,  the  mahogany  board  was  covered  with 
choice  viands  and  tempting  nectars.  Juanita's  appetite  had 
been  enhanced  by  the  exhilarating  air.  She  ate  and  she  talked. 
Her  eyes  sparkled  like  diamonds  with  countless  facets,  only 
they  were  softer  and  more  beautiful  than  the  most  costly  of 
precious  stones.  These  dark  and  glorious  gems  were  suffused 
with  soulful  love.  Stephen  was  in  Elysium.  Still,  Juanita 
would  not  partake  of  the  nectar.  This  was  a  great  disappoint- 
ment to  him ;  he  had  expected  her  to  act  differently,  here  in  the 
seclusion  of  his  compartment,  away  from  the  restraining  in- 
fluence of  the  Senora.  It  was  all  so  very  cozy,  with  none  to 
see  nor  to  interfere  with  anything  that  might  take  place. 

So  it  was  that  Stephen  drank  for  both  of  them  until  he  was 
overflowing  with  prosperity.  He  told  Juanita  of  his  father,  of 
his  great  wealth,  one  half  of  which  would  some  day  be  his.  He 
told  her  of  the  Holt  summer  home  in  the  mountains,  of  their 
great  winter  palace  in  the  city,  where  so  many  distinguished 
people  were  wont  to  assemble,  and  he  described  his  father's 
elaborate  dirigible. 

"It  is  much  larger  than  mine,"  said  he.  "Dad  lives  in  it. 
He  travels  at  night,  sleeping  among  the  clouds.  The  rarified 
air  has  restored  his  health.  He  houses  his  machine  in  dirizines, 
one  at  Ashhurst,  one  at  our  winter  mansion  at  the  Capital, 
and  one  at  the  top  of  the  Holt  skyscraper  in  New  York. 
Leaving  his  machine  on  the  skyscraper,  he  enters  his  offices  by  a 


A     NAVIGATOR'S     NERVE  291 

spiral  stairway  through  the  roof.  Thus  he  avoids  the  vulgar 
crowds  below." 

"How  wonderful!"  exclaimed  Juanita. 

"It's  a  great  thing  to  be  wealthy,  dear,  precious  girl.  Think 
of  what  is  in  store  for  you,  sweet  one,  if  only  you  will  love  me." 

Then  Stephen,  after  another  draft  of  nectar  from  the  choic- 
est vine,  moved  nearer.  He  was  now  at  Juanita's  side.  He 
tried  to  take  her  hand  in  his.  He  did  not  succeed.  Then  he 
threw  his  arms  around  her  and  made  a  vigorous  effort  to  kiss 
her.  In  this  he  failed,  for  she  said  something  to  him  that 
caused  him  to  pause.  She  was  so  unlike  some  others  he  had 
met !  Though  the  grape  was  in  his  blood,  his  faculty  of  com- 
prehension had  not  been  lost. 

He  looked  dejectedly  through  the  little  window  for  a  mo- 
ment. Then  he  gasped  an  exclamation  of  surprise.  They 
were  over  the  sea,  some  distance  from  land.  The  dirigible 
was  moving  steadily  to  the  east.  He  rose  suddenly,  muttering 
an  imprecation  against  the  barbaric  inhabitants  of  Russia. 
Then  he  left  the  compartment,  closing  the  door  with  a  slam. 

Juanita  was  relieved  when  he  was  gone.  She  did  not  know 
the  cause  of  his  hasty  exit ;  yet  she,  too,  could  see  they  were  not 
traveling  in  the  direction  of  the  San  Madres.  That  was  a 
mere  coincidence ;  something  might  be  wrong  with  the  machin- 
ery. The  thing  that  was  troubling  her  most  was  the  warning 
admonition  of  her  mother.  Never  again,  she  promised  herself, 
would  she  go  contrary  to  her  wishes. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  demanded  Stephen  to  Ivan.  "Your 
orders  were  to  keep  a  northwesterly  course." 

Juanita  did  not  hear  Stephen's  remark.  The  whir  of  the 
blades,  the  grinding  of  the  wheels,  drowned  his  voice.  Besides, 
the  door  was  closed,  and  he  was  speaking  in  subdued  tones. 
Nevertheless,  they  were  earnest  and  dominating. 

"You  directed  me  to  steer  for  the  San  Madres,"  replied  the 


292  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

navigator.  "Then  you  changed  for  a  point  in  another  direc- 
tion— far  away.  I  too  have  deemed  it  wise  to  change." 

"What  right  have  you  to — " 

"The  right  of  the  man  I  at  least  claim  to  be,"  interrupted 
Ivan,  for  whom  the  knout  had  had  no  terrors  in  Russia. 

"Your  insolence  is  unbearable.     I  will  discharge  you." 

"I  will  discharge  myself  when  we  are  at  San  Enrique  again, 
Mr.  Holt.." 

"Turn  her  to  the  northwest,  or  I  will  take  the  wheel  myself," 
Stephen  demanded,  moving  as  if  to  do  so. 

"I  will  turn  her  to  the  south,  Mr.  Holt,  toward  San  Enrique. 
You  seem  to  forget  they  are  still  searching  for  Twain;  that 
Akers  is  in  jail." 

The  navigator  pulled  the  slender  cable  that  regulated  the 
rudder.  Then  he  lowered  the  forward  planes.  The  dirigible 
swerved  to  the  south  and  was  dropping  to  a  lower  altitude. 
Then  Stephen,  now  angered  beyond  all  self-control,  struck  the 
navigator  on  the  side  of  the  face  with  his  open  hand. 

The  next  instant  he  was  struggling  at  the  bottom  of  the  car- 
rier. The  powerful  Ivan  had  hit  him.  Stephen  received  the 
blow  just  under  his  right  eye,  and  went  down  with  a  thud.  It 
may  have  been  a  "dull  thud,"  yet  Juanita  heard  the  commo- 
tion ;  she  was  now  quite  certain  that  something  was  wrong  with 
the  machinery.  She  did  not  "lose  her  head;"  she  did  not 
scream  nor  rush  from  the  compartment.  If  her  surmise  were 
the  correct  one,  of  course  it  would  be  necessary  to  return  to 
San  Enrique,  now  almost  within  sight.  In  half  an  hour  they 
would  be  there.  It  was  a  comfort  to  know  that  she  would 
soon  be  with  her  mother  and  Susie  again,  and  her  heart  gave  a 
great  bound  when  she  thought  of  the  sturdy  Englishman. 

When  Stephen  had  struggled  to  his  feet  he  made  a  mad 
rush  for  the  big  Russian,  who  dealt  him  a  swift  uppercut  under 


A     NAVIGATOR'S     NERVE  293 

the  other  eye.  It  was  like  the  benumbing  jolt  of  a  catapult. 
Stephen  was  down  again.  He  did  not  get  up  immediately. 

The  navigator  returned  to  the  wheel,  looked  through  the 
heavy  glass  window  for  his  bearings  and  adjusted  the  rudder 
and  the  planes.  After  this  he  helped  Stephen  to  his  feet  and 
wiped  his  bleeding  face  with  a  wisp  of  packing.  Neither  of 
the  men  had  spoken  since  the  scrimmage  began. 

Then  Juanita,  becoming  anxious,  pushed  open  the  door  of 
the  compartment.  At  the  sight  of  Stephen,  who  was  sitting  on 
a  low  stool,  holding  his  handkerchief  to  his  closed  eyes,  the 
blood  streaming  over  his  face,  saturating  his  white  duck  cloth- 
ing, recently  so  immaculate — when  she  beheld  the  gruesome 
sight,  Juanita  screamed  and  asked  what  had  happened. 

"The  machinery,"  answered  Ivan.  "It  is  acting  badly  this 
morning.  He  is  not  seriously  hurt." 

"Yes,  it  was  the  machinery,"  said  Stephen,  in  submissive 
accent.  "I  will  be  all  right  soon." 

Then  she  moved  toward  him  as  if  she  would  lend  assistance ; 
by  this  time  she  swooned.  Ivan  carried  her  to  the  compart- 
ment, laid  her  gently  upon  the  reclining  seat  at  the  other  side 
and  dashed  a  goblet  of  water  in  her  face.  Again  he  readjusted 
the  planes  and  the  rudder. 

From  the  veranda  of  the  stone  house  on  the  hill  the  Senora 
and  Susie  had  watched  the  dirigible  in  its  circuit  over  the 
Caribbean.  Their  distress  was  somewhat  relieved  when  the 
airship  turned  toward  the  village.  By  the  time  it  had  arrived 
they  were  at  its  anchoring  place  behind  the  church,  anxiously 
waiting.  An  unusual  number  of  the  natives  had  also  observed 
its  course  and  were  on  hand  to  learn  the  cause  of  the  strange 
proceeding,  for  they  seemed  to  know  that  the  dirigible  was  off 
that  morning  for  the  San  Madres. 

Juanita's  swoon  passed  away  before  Ivan  had  made  the  diri- 
gible fast.  She  was  now  leaning  over  the  edge  of  the  carrier 


294  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

waving  her  handkerchief  at  her  mother  and  Susie.  "I  am 
safe,"  she  exclaimed,  "but  Mr.  Holt  is  badly  hurt.  A  serious 
accident  to  the  machinery." 

Ivan  assisted  his  master  aboard  the  "Penelope."  Stephen 
went  to  his  cabin,  where  his  mother  came  in  great  distress  to 
administer  to  his  necessities.  Doctor  Richardson  was  sum- 
moned. 

It  was  ten  days  before  the  leeches  had  finished  with  Stephen's 
swollen  eyes.  After  they  had  gorged  themselves  on  the  rich 
deposits  of  coagulated  blood,  and  the  black  and  blue-green  dis- 
colorations  had  disappeared  from  his  cheeks,  where  the  diri- 
gible's terrible  catapult  struck  him,  Stephen  ventured  to  pay 
his  respects  at  the  stone  house  on  the  hill,  and  to  humbly 
apologize  to  the  Senora  for  having  induced  Juanita  to  go  with 
him. 

"That  big  moose  of  a  navigator  must  have  known  that  some- 
thing was  wrong  with  the  machinery."  This  was  his  stereo- 
typed remark  when  explaining  the  "accident." 

Captain  Mikleskoff  tarried  during  his  young  friend's  con- 
valescence. He  did  not  renew  his  suit  for  Margaret's  hand, 
preferring  to  believe  she  would  be  more  likely  to  look  upon 
him  with  favor  if  he  gave  her  time.  "Not  now"  were  her  last 
words  on  the  subject.  "But  when?"  This  was  the  question 
that  was  troubling  him  most.  There  was  only  one  course  for 
him  to  pursue ;  he  must  wait. 

And  now,  the  New  Year  having  arrived  a  month  ago,  and 
Enid  Grey's  health  being  much  improved — indeed,  she  was 
quite  like  her  former  self  again — and  nothing  occurring  that 
pointed  to  the  whereabouts  of  Twain,  why  should  Mrs.  Holt's 
interesting  company  remain  longer  at  San  Enrique?  Why  not 
a  voyage  to  Havana,  now  a  possession  of  the  Greater  Republic, 
for  it  had  only  recently  been  taken  over?  This  was  a  long 
anticipated  step  toward  Manifest  Destiny: — which  takes  me 


A     NAVIGATOR'S     NERVE  295 

back  to  that  period  in  our  national  history  that  witnessed  our 
nervous  situation  over  the  war  with  poor  old  Spain,  prior  to  my 
sailing  for  the  Orient ;  when  our  army  and  navy,  weary  of  pro- 
longed peace,  and  our  "captains  of  industry,"  spurred  by  the 
avarice  of  trade  conquest  and  the  selfish,  unpatriotic  desire  for 
war  prices  for  their  products,  discovered  a  hostile  pretext  in 
"the  Cuban  barbarities  of  the  Madrid  Government."  And 
so,  in  furtherance  of  the  financial  and  industrial  policy  of 
the  Mongers  Guild,  which,  having  acquired  the  choice  planta- 
tions of  the  ill-starred  Island,  first  securing  a  monopoly  of  the 
sugar  business  in  the  States,  had  sent  Roberts,  their  plenipoten- 
tiary, to  Washington,  to  formally  advise  the  Government  of  its 
duties  in  the  premises.  This  was  the  impelling  power  behind 
annexation.  Still,  like  the  opinions  of  numerous  statesmen  in 
regard  to  the  later  policy  of  Canadian  reciprocity,  this  is  mere 
persiflage. 

Of  course  it  was  of  no  immediate  concern  to  those  of  the 
"Penelope"  whether  Cuba  was  "free,"  or  whether  it  was  now 
the  property  of  that  saccharine  section  of  the  Mongers  Guild 
known  as  the  sugar  trust ;  Havana  would  be  no  less  interesting 
as  a  pleasure  resort  for  the  idle  rich  on  account  of  that,  for  the 
harbor  had  been  dredged  of  its  miasmatic  muck  at  public  ex- 
pense. So,  after  a  short  stay  at  this  capital  of  the  Antilles,  the 
"Penelope"  would  sail  for  the  Azores,  "the  land  of  the  hawks." 
After  that,  on  to  Washington,  where  Congress  was  now  strug- 
gling with  the  routine  affairs  of  the  short  session,  and  prepara- 
tions were  making  for  the  inauguration  of  the  Altrocratic  Ban- 
nister. All  these  matters  must  have  been  in  the  minds  of  Mrs. 
Holt's  talented  guests.  Besides,  in  the  course  of  the  long  jour- 
ney some  word  might  be  gathered  concerning  the  lost  senator. 

"Your  little  party  of  the  war  vessel  must  go  with  us,  Mr. 
Bolston,"  said  Mrs.  Holt.  "Send  the  cruiser  back  to  New  Or- 
leans." 


296  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

The  Englishman  protested  that  his  own  duties  had  so  long 
been  neglected  he  must  resume  them  at  the  very  earliest  mo- 
ment. It  was  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  wishes  of 
Juanita  would  be  the  determining  factor ;  yet  he  did  not  say  so. 
Thanking  the  good  lady  for  her  kindness,  Bolston  took  his  way 
to  the  big  stone  house  to  breathe  the  perfumed  atmosphere  of 
his  inamorata's  presence. 

Juanita  had  promised  herself  that  she  would  explain  her 
attitude  toward  the  minor  Holt,  whose  devotion  and  the 
dirigible  "accident"  now  furnished  a  theme  for  gossip  and 
speculation  far  beyond  the  precincts  of  San  Enrique.  Indeed, 
it  was  common  property  as  far  north  as  Matamoras,  in  Texas, 
whence  the  Dandazzler  had  come,  and  as  far  south  as  Tam- 
pico.  The  Englishman  smiled  as  he  listened  to  her  recital, 
remarking  that  the  boy  should  not  be  censured;  there  were 
those  several  years  his  senior,  he  said,  who  were  equally  as 
helpless  as  Stephen  when  under  the  spell  of  her  irresistible 
charms. 

Nor  did  the  philosophic  Briton  seem  to  evince  the  slightest 
objection  to  Stephen's  attentions.  He  reasoned  well  that  the 
woman  a  man  could  love  and  who  loved  him  in  return  could 
and  should  be  trusted,  declaring  that  only  by  this  unselfish 
course  would  the  worthiest  supplicant  for  her  favor  finally 
succeed. 

"A  noble  sentiment,"  replied  Juanita.  "Yet,  is  it  not  true 
that  the  ardent  lover  is  often  beset  with  jealousies,  however 
unreasonable  they  may  appear  to  be?" 

"Selfish,  distrustful  lovers,  perhaps,"  was  the  reply.  "It 
is  such  as  these,  I  imagine,  who  are  the  unhappiest." 

Without  intending  to  do  so,  he  was  imparting  a  valuable 
lesson — one  that  she  will  try  not  to  forget.  She  was  not  un- 
aware of  the  tendency  of  her  Latin  temperament  toward  those 
disturbing  perplexities  of  mind  and  heart  with  which  she  was 


A     NAVIGATOR'S     NERVE  297 

immediately  beset  when  this  remarkable  man  first  came  into  her 
life.  She  colored  with  shame  as  she  recalled  her  allusions,  on 
a  previous  occasion,  to  the  savage  retaliations  of  jealous  women. 

Perceiving  her  distress,  and  divining  its  cause,  he  sought  to 
divert  her  reflections  by  relating  his  interview  with  Mrs.  Holt 
concerning  the  prospective  cruise  to  the  Azores.  This  gave 
rise  to  a  fresh  commotion  of  her  thoughts.  The  sailing  of  the 
"Penelope"  portended  the  end  of  the  sweetest  dream  of  her 
existence.  It  meant  the  departure,  perhaps  for  all  time,  of  her 
ideal  among  men,  the  rare  Briton  who  had  taken  possession  of 
her  heart,  thrilling  her  with  alternate  joy  and  jealousy.  In  a 
measure,  Juanita  had  prepared  herself  for  this  final  blow;  she 
was  in  constant  fear  that  it  must  come  and  that  she  must  learn 
to  endure  its  consequences. 

The  cloud  lifted  the  following  day  when  Mrs.  Holt  came  to 
say  she  would  be  glad  to  have  Juanita  and  her  mother  join  the 
"Penelope"  party  when  they  were  ready  to  go  away.  Had  Bol- 
ston  inspired  this  welcome  invitation?  This  was  the  first 
thought  that  came  to  Juanita.  For  some  reason,  which  the 
Guerreros  could  not  fathom,  the  good  lady  of  the  "Penelope" 
enjoined  the  closest  secrecy  in  regard  to  the  proposed  voyage. 

Nevertheless,  before  many  days  had  passed,  during  which 
time  Stephen  was  finding  new  excuses  for  postponing  his  de- 
parture for  the  north,  his  mother's  secret  leaked  out. 

"I  have  decided  to  return  on  the  yacht,  mother,"  said  he. 
"The  Captain  may  go  in  the  dirigible  with  the  navigator  if  he 
desires  to  do  so,  or  he  may  come  with  us,  as  he  likes." 

For  the  moment  Mrs.  Holt  was  crushed.  Still,  she  knew  her 
son  too  well  to  waste  words  with  him  in  argument.  Then, 
with  the  thought  that  she  might  confuse  him,  and  coming 
directly  to  the  matter  of  his  malady,  she  said : 

"Yet,  it  is  not  certain  the  Guerreros  will  be  with  us." 

"In  that  case  I  will  remain  here,"  he  replied. 


298  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

The  following  morning,  when  the  cruiser  was  steaming 
away  for  New  Orleans,  in  pursuance  of  the  unsealed  orders  of 
the  "Penelope's"  commander,  Grey  and  the  Englishman  fell  to 
discussing  ways  and  means  whereby  the  ones  "higher  up"  in 
the  Twain  abduction  might  be  apprehended.  Indeed,  this  was 
their  daily  theme.  As  time  passed  they  evolved  new  theories 
and  new  plans.  In  every  instance  their  theories  and  plans 
would  be  overthrown  when  they  came  to  consider  Martha  Gid- 
dings'  fate  should  it  be  decided  to  prosecute  the  offenders  thus 
far  known  to  be  implicated. 

About  this  time  Grey  received  a  momentous  letter.  It  was 
from  Cy  Shirley,  the  Altrocratic  manager  in  Senator  Twain's 
state.  It  was  momentous  because  it  suggested  "another  step 
toward  the  top,"  as  Grey  remarked  to  Bolston.  Shirley  in  his 
letter  said  there  was  much  speculation  in  regard  to  the  where- 
abouts of  Giddings;  that  he  was  reported  to  be  in  Mexico  at 
some  famous  springs,  and  yet  no  one  seemed  to  know  where  the 
springs  were.  Martha's  letter  to  Asher  Wells,  her  betrothed 
husband,  the  letter  with  the  subterfuge  in  it,  had  borne  the  in- 
tended fruit. 

What  disturbed  the  leading  politicians,  said  Shirley  in  his 
letter,  was  the  anxiety  of  Sam  Ives.  If  anyone  knew  where 
Giddings  was  it  must  be  he,  and  yet  Ives  was  not  disposed  to 
make  any  explanation.  He  was  nervous  and  despondent,  and 
was  losing  interest  in  the  campaign  in  behalf  of  Sloane,  whose 
candidacy  was  then  before  the  legislature.  Moreover,  Ives  was 
in  frequent  touch  with  Eph  Fox,  who  was  likewise  neglectful 
of  Sloane's  political  welfare.  "There  is  something  more  im- 
portant on  foot,"  declared  Shirley,  "than  the  senatorship.  The 
C.  Q.  D.  outfit  are  alarmed." 

"Ives  and  Fox  are  concerned  in  this  abduction,"  said  Grey 
to  Bolston,  when  he  had  finished  reading  Shirley's  letter. 


A     NAVIGATOR'S     NERVE  299 

"Giddings  holds  the  key  to  the  situation.  He  must  be  closely 
watched.  We  must  retain  control  over  him." 

"We  have  the  real  key  to  the  situation  right  here,"  replied 
Bolston. 

"How  fortunate  it  is  that  we  did  not  allow  her  to  go  back  to 
Washington,"  exclaimed  Grey.  "I  am  beginning  to  see  a  great 
light,  my  friend.  Already  I  have  a  plan  in  mind.  We'll  get 
Fox  and  Ives;  do  not  fear.  Leave  it  to  me." 

A  little  later  Mr.  Grey  was  sitting  on  the  deck  with  Martha 
Giddings. 

"My  daughter  has  told  me  of  your  father's  serious  illness," 
he  remarked.  "I  trust  he  is  improving." 

"Father  writes  me  that  he  is  better,"  replied  Martha. 

"He  has  friends  near  him,  of  course?" 

"Yes ;  Mr.  Bostwick  sees  him  daily." 

"Mr.  Ives  and  Mr.  Fox  will  take  care,  no  doubt,  that  he  does 
not  want  for  attention  or  anything." 

Martha  colored.  There  was  a  certain  hesitation  in  her  reply 
that  bespoke  her  thoughts.  And  yet  she  was  not  thinking  of 
the  connection  of  Ives  and  Fox  with  the  abduction,  for  she  did 
not  know  as  to  that.  She  was  thinking  of  Eph  Fox,  of  her 
father's  subserviency  to  him,  of  his  presuming  attentions  to  her, 
of  her  good  fortune  in  thus  far  avoiding  the  snares  he  had  laid 
to  entrap  her.  Then  she  said : 

"They  have  not  seen  father  since  he  came  east.  Being  ill, 
he  cannot  assist  them  in  their  schemes.  Men  of  their  kind  are 
not  profuse  in  their  sympathies  where  sympathy  is  not  directly 
convertible  into  power." 

"Very  true,"  replied  Grey.  "And  they  would  be  the  first  to 
cry  for  help  if  trouble  should  come  to  them." 

"If  they  were  in  distress  father  would  surely  try  to  assist 
them." 

"Enid,  as  you  know,  has  told  me  of  your  purpose  in  coming 


300  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

here,  Miss  Giddings.  I  have  thought  of  it  a  great  deal,  and 
would  gladly  assist  you,  if  possible.  Much  depends  upon  your 
father's  course." 

"He  will  do  anything,  Mr.  Grey,  to  relieve  me ;  depend  upon 
it,  and  I  will  never  cease  to  bless  you  for  your  generous  consid- 
eration." 

"For  the  present,"  replied  the  editor,  "he  must  decline  to 
enter  into  further  compact  with  them.  He  ought  not  to  see 
them  should  they  call  at  the  rest  cure.  He  must  devote  him- 
self to  you.  Write  him  a  guarded  letter  to  that  effect.  You 
may  say  you  have  discussed  the  matter  with  me,  and  that  I  am 
your  friend." 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE  HOMEWARD  VOYAGE 

Just  before  the  "Penelope"  weighed  anchor  Enid  sought  her 
benefactress — for  such  she  now  called  Mrs.  Holt — and  told 
her  how  deeply  grateful  she  was.  The  good  woman  was  moved 
to  tears  before  Enid  had  near  finished;  for  while  the  million- 
aire's wife,  as  has  been  said,  was  of  a  practical  turn,  she  had  a 
soft  place  in  her  mother's  bosom  for  distressed  human  kind. 
Nor  had  the  vulgar  surroundings  of  an  affluent  life  suppressed 
the  benevolent  emotions  which  prompted  her  in  rescuing  this 
victim  of  overwrought  sentiment  from  the  doom  of  despair. 

"So  few  of  us  are  ever  wholly  understood,"  said  she  to  Enid, 
between  convulsive  sobs.  "How  often  I've  wished  to  be  like 
your  dear  mother — all  sympathy  and  goodness.  It  is  but  na- 
tural that  she  should  be  as  she  is,  never  having  known  the 
seamy  side  of  life.  Her  parents  were  rich  and  she  was  for- 
tunate, to  be  sure,  in  being  brought  up  in  luxury.  I  was  a 
farmer's  daughter  and  knew  how  to  milk  the  cows  and  churn 
the  butter." 

"What  a  happy  girlhood  you  must  have  had,"  interposed 
Enid. 

"I  did  not  think  so  then,"  she  replied.  "My  dream  was  of 
wealth,  power,  station.  And  now  that  I've  got  them,  my  heart 
yearns  for  the  farm  home  again.  But  it  is  useless  to  repine.  I 
must  be  content,  if  possible,  with  my  miserable  lot,  devoting 


302  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

myself  to  relieving  distress  wherever  I  find  it.  It  makes  me 
happy  to  think  I  was  able  to  help  you,  my  dear,  even  in  my 
direct,  positive  and  not  altogether  agreeable  way." 

"I  am  sure,"  said  Enid,  "you  have  been  most  agreeable.  I 
know  what  you  mean,  but  please  do  not  disparage  yourself. 
You  have  accomplished  much  more  than  if  you  had  merely 
sympathized  with  me,  for  that  only  would  have  added  to  the 
depression  when  you  were  gone.  But  you  called  me  back  to  my 
duty  to  myself,  and  if — " 

"I  know  what  you  would  say,  dear.  If  Mr.  Twain  never 
returns,  you  at  least  will  have  been  saved  to  revere  his  memory." 

"And  you  my  preserver,"  replied  Enid.  "I  shall  always  love 
you  as  my  other  mother.  Thank  you — God  bless  you  for  your 
kindness." 

Except  from  Margaret,  and  now  and  then  a  meager  expres- 
sion of  appreciation  from  Stephen — usually  forced  from  him  by 
some  unusually  tender  act  of  his  mother's — Mrs.  Holt's  real 
greatness  had  never  before  received  such  recognition  as  this. 
She  folded  Enid  to  her  breast,  kissing  her  cheeks,  the  grateful 
tears  falling  ad  extremum. 

All  the  village  inhabitants  were  at  the  waterfront  when  the 
yacht  sailed  away.  It  was  a  sorrowful  assemblage,  but  none 
was  more  cast  down  in  spirit  than  Don  Jose  Guerrero,  who,  for 
the  first  time  in  half  his  existence,  was  left  as  the  sole  occupant 
of  the  stone  house  on  the  hill ;  which  means,  as  the  reader  will 
understand,  that  the  Senora  and  Juanita  were  on  board  the 
"Penelope,"  and  little  Susie,  too,  who  by  this  time  had  become 
so  attached  to  the  kindly  old  Alcalde,  no  doubt  she  would  have 
been  willing  to  have  adopted  him  in  her  list  of  fathers. 

Nor  did  she  forget  the  spiritual  one  at  Chorreras,  to  whom 
she  sent  a  farewell  letter.  "Goodbye,  my  dear  padre,"  she 
wrote.  "I  will  not  forget  you.  I  have  told  them  all  about 
you  and  the  little  church.  When  I'm  grown  up  and  have  some 


THE     HOMEWARD     VOYAGE  303 

money  to  spare  you  shall  have  a  much  bigger  one,  like  I  saw  at 
Tampico,  and  many  nice  new  things  for  the  altar,  and  a  clean 
white  surplice  for  yourself.  I  hope  that  will  be  by  the  next 
Candlemas  after  this  one — I  mean  the  surplice ;  I  can  get  that 
by  then,  but  you  may  have  to  wait  quite  awhile  for  the  new 
church,  because  it  costs  so  much,  and  I  don't  yet  know  where 
I'm  going  to  get  the  money." 

"Do  you  think  the  good  old  padre  will  understand  all  these 
big  words?"  she  asked  Bolston,  to  whom  she  read  the  letter. 
"He's  French,  you  know." 

"Permit  me  to  translate  it  to  the  French,  Susie."  And  so 
this  was  done.  And  if  ever  Chorreras  is  to  have  a  new  church 
it  will  be  the  gift  of  Susie  Noggins.  Though  the  padre  is  old 
and  may  not  live  long  enough  to  see  it,  he  will  at  least  have 
had  the  consoling  satisfaction  that  his  little  friend  did  not  for- 
get to  write  him  before  she  went  indefinitely  away. 

While  indulging  in  farewells,  the  lachrymal  ducts  being  in 
eruption,  both  on  the  "Penelope"  and  at  the  waterfront  below 
San  Enrique,  it  may  not  be  out  of  order  to  say  that  Captain 
Nicholas  Mikleskoff,  much  dispirited,  and  using  his  handker- 
chief, as  on  a  former  occasion,  sailed  for  the  north  with  Ivan 
Petroffsky  several  days  ago;  and  when  they  were  arrived  at 
Washington  Ivan  surrendered  his  commission  as  the  navigator 
of  Stephen  Holt's  dirigible,  for  this  adventurous  young  man 
was  no  longer  interested  in  aeronautics. 

And  what  a  distance  for  the  Senora  to  be  going!  She  had 
never  been  so  far  away  from  home  as  the  "Penelope"  would 
now  take  her,  not  even  to  Havana.  Indeed,  her  Alcaldeship 
was  never  before  abroad  from  her  own  native  land,  and  she 
wept  copiously  on  leaving;  not  so  much,  perhaps,  on  this  ac- 
count as  for  Don  Jose,  who  was  the  best  of  husbands — even 
since  the  arrival  of  Doctor  Richardson,  who  spent  much  time 
in  the  Senora's  company — for,  as  I  have  said,  she  was  a  comely 


304  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

creature,  and  the  Doctor  was  about  her  own  age,  maybe  a  year 
or  two  older,  a  somewhat  impressionable  person  withal,  as  he 
himself  has  already  confessed  in  speaking  to  Bolston  of  Juan- 
ita's  charms.  Yet,  both  the  Senora  and  the  Doctor  being  mar- 
ried, I  am  sure  nothing  further  need  be  said  against  any  sus- 
picions which  the  friendly  relations  existing  between  them 
might  otherwise  engender.  Besides,  the  Doctor  was  entitled  to 
a  professorship  of  languages,  and  dearly  loved  the  Spanish. 

And  the  Englishman,  too.  He  had  reconsidered  his  first  in- 
tention to  return  by  cruiser,  for  it  will  be  remembered  Mrs. 
Holt  was  quite  as  positive  in  insisting  that  he  should  take  pas- 
sage on  the  "Penelope"  as  she  had  been  that  the  war  vessel 
should  be  sent  back  to  New  Orleans.  If  there  was  any  other 
reason  for  Bolston's  reconsideration  the  dear  reader  must  dis- 
cover it  for  him  or  her  self;  it  is  impossible  for  the  writer  to 
deal  with  every  motive  of  each  of  the  long  array  of  characters 
portrayed  in  this  volume. 

Nor  did  Stephen  desist  from  the  indulgence  of  his  passion; 
it  may  be  that  he  could  not  do  so,  for  that  has  been  the  fate  of 
others.  Even  before  the  Mexican  coast  had  disappeared 
toward  the  setting  sun,  he  had  renewed  the  siege  of  Juanita's 
heart.  Had  she  loved  him  he  might  have  borne  himself  in 
some  degree  of  patience.  In  that  case  he  could  have  devoted 
his  time  to  the  winning  of  his  mother's  consent.  After  that  the 
senior  Holt  could  have  been  managed,  for  wives  know  how  to 
bring  these  things  to  pass. 

Still,  the  great  money  master  was  not  a  compassionate  man, 
nor  easily  persuaded.  Above  all,  he  could  not  be  driven.  All 
this  is  mere  speculation,  for  Stephen's  father  knew  nothing 
whatever  about  his  son's  infatuation.  And  there  was  this  addi- 
tional obstacle,  of  which  the  enamored  youth  was  not  then 
aware,  although,  like  others  of  the  "Penelope"  party,  he  might 
have  suspected  it :  Juanita  loved  the  incomparable  Briton.  She 


THE     HOMEWARD     VOYAGE  305 

had  never  aspired  to  distinction  of  title,  nor  to  a  matrimonial 
alliance  with  glitter.  Her  parents  were  not  immersed  in  greed. 
They  were  conspicuous  only  for  those  accomplishments  with 
which  nature  and  a  creditable  lineage  had  endowed  them.  It 
was  enough  if  their  daughter  should  wed  some  one  within  this 
circle  of  simplicity  and  respectability. 

So  that  Stephen's  chromatic  speech  in  the  compartment  of 
his  dirigible,  when  he  supposed  Ivan  was  steering  toward  the 
Grand  Canyon,  "away  from  the  spying  world;"  his  attempt  to 
allure  Juanita  by  picturing  to  her  mind  the  fabulous  wealth  of 
his  father,  had  found  no  response.  To  her  it  was  as  the  tink- 
ling of  cymbals.  Neither  had  her  imagination  nor  her  deeper 
emotions  been  stirred  by  the  tale. 

Thus  isolated  from  every  element  of  sympathy  and  encour- 
agement, and  failing  to  comprehend  how  any  woman,  especially 
one  of  humble  station,  could  resist  him — for,  like  Oakley  of 
the  pleasure  yacht,  he  was  innoculated  with  the  virus  of  af- 
fluence— he  conceived  the  idea  that  her  affections  must  be  en- 
grossed by  another,  but  by  whom  he  could  not  decide.  At 
once  he  was  seized  with  a  hatred  for  all  masculine  kind.  Re- 
solving upon  the  identification  of  his  rival,  if  rival  there  was, 
he  soon  hit  upon  a  line  of  action. 

"Your  lack  of  consideration  for  my  feelings,"  said  he  to 
Juanita,  soon  after  the  "Penelope"  had  touched  at  Havana, 
"convinces  me  that  you  love  another.  Tell  me  frankly  if  this 
is  true,  and  I  will  try  to  cease  to  care  for  you." 

Here,  indeed,  was  a  tempting  inducement;  yet,  Juanita  was 
not  to  be  decoyed  into  a  confession  which  concerned  not  only 
herself  but  Ralph  Bolston  as  well.  Although  she  was  unable 
to  account  for  the  Englishman's  reserve  and  his  studied  disin- 
clination to  permit  his  feelings  for  her  to  become  known,  even 
to  those  who  were  very  close  to  both  of  them,  her  confidence  in 
him  was  now  far  greater  than  any  timorous  doubt  she  may  have 


306  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

had  before  concerning  his  sincerity.  Moreover,  she  was  in  a 
deal  of  doubt  in  regard  to  Stephen's  promise  that  he  would  try 
to  cease  to  care  for  her.  She  resolved,  therefore,  to  be  done 
with  him,  at  least  as  a  supposed  lover. 

"I  greatly  regret  my  failure  to  make  you  understand  that  I 
am  not  lacking  in  consideration  for  your  feelings,"  she  replied. 
"Surely,  you  would  not  have  me  deceive  you  into  the  belief  that 
I  loved  you  when  frankness  compels  me  to  say  I  do  not.  It  is 
no  fault  of  yours ;  I  am  willing  to  admit  that  it  is  all  my  own." 

"Yet  you  have  not  told  me  until  now  that  you  do  not  love 
me,"  he  replied  in  a  tone  of  half  pleading  and  half  vexation. 

"Because  I  hoped  that  would  be  unnecessary,"  she  answered. 

"Neither  do  you  tell  me  that  there  is  someone  else,"  he  said, 
his  trembling  voice  betraying  his  rising  anger. 

"It  would  not  help  you  if  you  knew — " 

"But  I  will  know,"  he  exclaimed.     "You  cannot  prevent  it." 

"I  shall  not  try  to  prevent  it,"  she  replied.  Then  she  rose 
from  the  seat  beside  him  and  moved  toward  the  stairway  lead- 
ing from  the  upper  deck. 

Stephen  followed,  and  as  Juanita  was  about  to  descend  the 
stairs  he  grasped  her  arm  with  a  viselike  grip.  "I'll  compel 
you  to  love  me,"  he  hissed  between  his  set  teeth;  then,  releasing 
his  hold,  he  walked  away. 

The  following  morning  Bolston,  Juanita  and  Margaret  were 
pacing  the  "Penelope's"  deck,  laughing  and  chatting  in  joyous 
mood.  The  Senora  came  from  below  with  a  wrap  for  her 
daughter,  for  the  air  was  damp  and  chill.  Bolston  took  the 
wrap  and  placed  it  about  Juanita's  shoulders.  It  required  some 
time  to  adjust  it.  Stephen,  who  was  walking  at  the  further  side 
of  the  deck  with  Martha  Giddings,  observed  the  Englishman's 
attentions.  In  his  resentment,  and  being  studiously  alert  for 
vindication  of  his  theory  in  regard  to  Juanita's  attitude  toward 
him,  he  shot  a  vicious  glance  at  the  Englishman. 


THE     HOMEWARD     VOYAGE  307 

Just  then  Juanita  dropped  her  handkerchief.  It  might  have 
been  carried  overboard  by  the  wind  but  for  Bolston's  agility. 
It  is  more  than  probable  that  Juanita's  gratitude  for  this  slight 
favor  gave  her  the  desired  opportunity  to  speak  to  him  in  a 
confidential  tone,  and  that  they  were  in  no  great  haste  to  join 
Margaret  and  the  Senora,  who  were  now  walking  away  to- 
gether. Even  this  would  have  gone  unobserved,  except  by 
Stephen,  who  was  now  fully  convinced  that  he  had  discovered 
the  rival  who  was  robbing  him  of  his  idol's  affections. 

Thereafter  the  hours  hung  heavily  upon  him,  and  his  mind 
was  filled  with  dark  thoughts.  He  avoided  his  mother's  guests, 
spending  much  of  the  time  in  his  cabin.  Finally,  he  persuaded 
himself  that  even  ordinary  good  manners  entitled  Juanita  to  an 
apology  for  his  rudeness. 

Coming  from  his  cabin  one  afternoon  he  saw  his  sister  and 
the  Englishman  on  deck.  They  were  walking  slowly,  arm  in 
arm,  engaged  in  earnest  conversation.  Stephen  was  pleased. 
Why  could  not  Bolston,  now  the  bete  noire  of  his  existence,  fall 
in  love  with  Margaret,  he  thought  to  himself,  leaving  the 
black-eyed  charmer  to  him?  How  might  such  a  thing  be 
brought  about?  While  revolving  this  query  in  his  mind  Juan- 
ita appeared,  "more  beautiful  in  Stephen's  eyes  than  ever. 

Since  the  scene  on  the  deck,  when,  through  consuming  love 
and  disappointment,  he  had  allowed  himself  to  become  angry 
and  lay  a  violent  hand  upon  Juanita's  arm,  they  had  merely 
passed  the  time  of  day  when  they  met.  Not  to  resume  their 
former  friendly  relations  would  be  little  less  than  brutal;  he 
was  reasoning  coldly,  of  course,  without  regard  for  his  own 
inclinations.  Besides,  he  wondered  if  Juanita  had  seen  Mar- 
garet and  Bolston,  now  at  the  further  end  of  the  vessel,  still 
arm  in  arm  like  two  engaged  lovers,  as  he  wished  to  Heaven 
they  were.  Here  was  an  opportunity  that  must  not  be  missed. 


308  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

It  was  a  situation  which  afforded  a  ray  of  hope  for  a  despairing 
and  a  desperate  heart. 

With  a  smile,  not  without  a  twinge  of  guilt  in  it,  he  ap- 
proached Juanita,  saying  that  she  was  "too  beautiful  to  be 
left  alone."  Then  in  a  repentant  tone — "I've  come  to  ask  for- 
giveness." 

"Oh,  I  forgave  you  at  the  time — long  before  your  anger 
cooled,"  she  replied  with  a  laugh.  "I  would  not  allow  that  to 
disturb  our  friendship,  Mr.  Holt.  Do  be  reasonable  hereafter, 
for  your  own  sake." 

"Men  are  such  monsters,"  he  replied,  moving  so  that  when 
Juanita  turned  to  face  him  she  would  see  Bolston  and  Mar- 
garet. "Very  few  of  them  are  worthy  of  a  good  woman's  love. 
They  are  changeable  and  inconstant.  I  have  never  deceived 
you,  dear,  sweet  Juanita.  I  have  sworn  to  love  you  always, 
and  my  affection  for  you  is  so  great  I  would  hate  myself  to 
think  that  any  other  woman  could  ever  come  between  us.  If 
you  only  loved  me  like  that,  to  me  it  would  be  worth  an  eternity 
of  every  other  bliss.  Even  now,  with  only  discouragement 
from  you,  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  think  of  the  love  of 
another." 

Juanita  paled.  Her  eyes,  staring  straight  at  Bolston  and 
Margaret,  who  unlocked  their  arms  as  they  approached,  seemed 
to  lose  their  powers,  and  her  head  swam  as  if  the  sea  were 
tossed  by  a  tempest.  Thus  far  Stephen's  wicked  ruse  had  suc- 
ceeded. While  pleading  his  own  cause  in  words  of  burning 
passion,  by  suggestion  he  had  painted  the  Englishman  in  colors 
perfidious. 

"Oh,  it  is  nothing — man's  constancy,"  remarked  Juanita, 
petulantly,  as  she  took  Stephen's  arm  and  walked  with  him  to 
the  starboard. 

When  they  were  seated  in  the  shadow  of  a  life  boat  swinging 
lazily  from  its  davits,  Stephen  could  scarcely  repress  his  joy, 


THE     HOMEWARD     VOYAGE  309 

although  he  made  pretense  of  being  much  cast  down.  Though 
he  had  fired  her  susceptible  nature  by  the  picture  so  artfully 
drawn  of  man's  duplicity,  while  the  living  reality  stood  out 
before  Juanita's  very  eyes,  as  now  she  did  not  doubt,  his  victory 
was  far  from  being  won.  He  knew  that  before  another  day 
Bolston  would  talk  with  Juanita;  that  she  would  listen  and 
doubt,  and,  doubting,  listen  all  the  more,  and  that  unless  new 
and  conclusive  evidence  to  justify  Juanita's  suspicions  were 
forthcoming,  his  rival  would  win  her  to  himself  again. 

So  it  was  that  Stephen,  after  much  futile  endeavor  to  im- 
press Juanita  with  her  mistake  in  not  reciprocating  his  feelings 
for  her,  retired  to  his  cabin  to  formulate  a  further  plan  of  at- 
tack upon  the  Englishman's  integrity. 

Time  was  short ;  the  "Penelope"  was  nearing  her  destination. 
He  must  act  quickly.  Would  Margaret  assist  him?  he  asked 
himself.  Had  he  not  carried  Captain  Mikleskoff  away  on  her 
account? — for  well  he  knew  of  his  sister's  ruse  at  Washington. 
Besides,  considerate  and  adorable  sister  that  she  was,  had  not 
she  come  to  his  aid  on  other  occasions  when  he  was  in  distress? 
He  would  lay  the  matter  before  Margaret  in  its  best  light  ere 
he  slept  that  night?  If  she  failed  him,  he  would  not  sleep  at 
all  until  he  had  devised  a  means  to  the  unrighteous  end  in  view. 

"Margery,  you  dearest  of  sisters,"  he  began,  after  beckoning 
her  to  follow  him  to  a  secluded  part  of  the  "Penelope"  that 
evening,  "I  ought  to  tell  you  that,  although  the  Captain  is 
a  fine  fellow  in  many  respects,  he  does  not  begin  to  reach  up  to 
Mr.  Bolston's  standard." 

"And  he  is  not  in  love  with  Miss  Guerrero,"  said  she,  inter- 
rupting him  and  giving  him  a  pat  upon  the  cheek.  "You  fear 
that  Mr.  Bolston  does  love  her,  and  you  would  have  your  sister 
take  him  for  herself,  so  that  you  may  win  the  Castilian  beauty. 
You  turned  me  to  good  account  for  yourself  on  the  deck  this 
afternoon,  Stephen ;  yet  I  forgive  you,  although  I  fear  Juanita 


310  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

will  never  forgive  me.  What  may  I  do  further  to  assist  you? 
Remember,  you  must  not  expect  me  to  do  anything  that  is  dis- 
creditable." 

"Not  for  the  world,  Margery,"  he  exclaimed;  "only  make 
love  to  Mr.  Bolston — in  earnest  of  course.  You  can  win  him 
away  from  Juanita  and  secure  a  prize  husband.  Help  me, 
Margery !  I  never  needed  your  help  as  I  need  it  now.  And  it 
will  be  on  the  square,  too.  All  is  fair  in  love  and  war." 

"Except  duplicity  in  love  affairs,  Stephen,"  she  replied. 
"If  Mr.  Bolston  loves  her,  surely  you  would  not  have  your 
sister  marry  him,  if  she  could." 

"Oh,  but  Margery,  dear,"  pleaded  Stephen,  "he  will  love 
you.  He  is  a  foreigner,  and  you  are  wealthy." 

Margaret  gave  Stephen  a  searching  look.  She  did  not  reply 
by  saying  that  the  question  of  international  marriage,  under 
conditions  involving  wide  disparity  in  the  matter  of  financial 
fortune,  had  already  been  of  much  concern  to  her.  She  did 
venture  the  remark,  however,  that  there  might  be  a  vast  dif- 
ference between  the  intentions  of  Captain  Mikleskoff  and  the 
viewpoint  of  Ralph  Bolston. 

"Mr.  Bolston,"  said  she,  "if  he  loves  Miss  Guerrero,  is  not 
moved  by  sordid  motives." 

"All  the  more,  then,  would  he  meet  your  ideal  view,  Mar- 
gery, as  a  suitable  husband." 

"The  less  likely,  therefore,  that  he  would  abandon  his  ideal 
in  the  selection  of  a  wife,"  she  answered. 

Stephen's  attempt  to  enlist  the  aid  of  Margaret  in  his  matri- 
monial project  had  failed.  As  usual,  whenever  he  came  face 
to  face  with  disappointment,  he  displayed  impatience. 

"You  are  like  all  the  rest  of  womankind,"  he  exclaimed,  "in- 
considerate and  unreasonable." 

Without  further  parley,  he  abruptly  left  Margaret  and  went 
to  his  cabin.  Here  he  revolved  the  situation  in  all  its  fluctuat- 


THE     HOMEWARD     VOYAGE  311 

ing  phases.  When  he  came  to  the  breakfast  table  next  morn- 
ing he  wore  a  look  of  weariness  and  anxiety. 

It  was  not  the  Holt  nature — the  nature  of  the  male  Holts — 
to  acknowledge  defeat,  nor  to  relinquish  a  selfish  purpose. 
This  fact  had  been  demonstrated,  too  often  perhaps,  in  the 
elaborate  office  rooms  of  Holt  major  at  the  top  of  the  sky- 
scraper, at  the  foot  of  the  spiral  stairway. 

As  a  last  desperate  resort  in  the  effort  to  possess  himself  of 
Juanita  Guerrero,  Stephen,  after  hours  of  mental  turmoil  in 
his  cabin,  conceived  the  idea  that  the  one  desire  of  his  heart, 
now  cankered  with  malignant  hatred  and  unrequited  love, 
might  be  attained  if  Juanita's  apprehensions  could  be  stimulat- 
ed by  some  written  evidence  that  Bolston  was  deceiving  her. 
It  must  be  such  evidence,  he  reasoned,  as  would  serve  to  con- 
vince her  beyond  Bolston's  power  to  refute  it.  Spurred  by  this 
pernicious  thought,  he  seized  a  pen  and,  after  much  hot-headed 
effort,  produced  the  following : 

Beloved  Briton:  Would  that  I  had  the  power  to  tell  you  how 
greatly  your  absence  is  lamented  in  this  solitude;  yet  how 
ardently  burn  my  kindling  thoughts  of  your  early  return.  Think- 
ing of  you,  I  almost  envy  my  sweet  friend  Enid,  who,  as  I  write, 
is  in  your  place  at  the  dining  table,  where  you  told  me  of  your 
love,  and  I,  for  reasons  that  now  appear  so  groundless,  ex- 
pressed my  foolish  doubts.  Could  you  but  know  the  present 
yearnings  of  my  heart  not  even  the  great  necessities  of  the 
state,  which  concern  your  mind  too  deeply,  I  fear,  could  long 
detain  you.  Yet  I  must  haste.  Don  Jose  is  on  board.  He  is 
leaving  in  another  moment  for  the  village  and  will  put  this  in 
the  post.  I  bless  him  and  those  who  will  carry  this  loving  short 
letter  to  you  from  MARGARET. 

San  Enrique, 

Thursday  morning. 

"If  this  fails  to  convince  Juanita,"  said  Stephen  to  himself, 
having  finished  the  mischievous  missive,  "my  cause  would  seem 


312  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

to  be  hopeless.  But,  by  all  the  gods  of  Greece,  I'll  never  quit 
until  she  is  mine !" 

In  respect  of  time  and  methods  Stephen  was  a  ready  reckoner 
and  equally  proficient  in  the  art  of  adaptation.  He  was  fa- 
vored in  his  wickedness  in  that  it  would  be  difficult  for  an  ex- 
pert to  distinguish  his  handwriting  from  that  of  Margaret's. 
There  was  no  obstacle  he  could  see  now  in  the  short-cut  way 
he  had  determined  upon  to  bring  the  fraudulent  letter  to  Juan- 
ita's  attention.  His  present  impatience  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
he  must  wait  until  the  light  of  day  came  again,  only  to  be 
dimmed  by  the  radiance  of  Juanita  Guerrero's  love-enthralling 
face. 

The  opportunity  came  when  Stephen  found  Juanita  amusing 
herself  at  the  vessel's  stern  by  tossing  sea  biscuits  to  the  gulls. 
He  joined  her  and  suggested  that  he  would  catch  one  with  a 
hook  and  line  if  she  wished,  but  she  protested,  saying  that  it 
would  be  an  act  of  cruelty. 

"Besides,  why  should  the  innocent  bird  be  deprived  of  its 
precious  freedom?"  she  asked. 

"Oh,  they're  no  good  anyway,"  he  replied.  Without  giving 
her  time  to  respond,  he  said  he  had  something  very  important 
to  say  to  her.  When  they  were  seated  he  drew  the  forged  letter 
from  his  pocket,  saying  it  had  been  found  by  a  servant  and 
handed  to  him. 

"I  have  thought  about  it  a  great  deal,"  he  continued,  "and 
have  concluded  it  is  my  duty  to  apprise  you  of  its  contents. 
Then  I  must  return  it  to  Margaret,  with  the  suggestion  that 
her  'beloved  Briton'  should  be  more  careful  in  regard  to  letters 
he  receives  from  admiring  ladies.  If  you  will  follow  with  your 
beautiful  eyes,  Juanita,  I  will  read.  .  .  .  How  careless 
of  him!"  remarked  Stephen,  nonchalently,  when  he  had  fin- 
ished. "I  should  have  taken  it  to  Margaret  at  once,  I  suppose, 


THE     HOMEWARD     VOYAGE  313 

but  my  interest  in  you,  sweet  one,  prompted  me  otherwise.  I 
will  do  so  now,  if  you  will  excuse  me  for  a  few  minutes." 

Before  going,  ostensibly  in  search  of  Margaret,  he  had  taken 
note  of  poor  Juanita's  agitation,  pretending  not  to  do  so,  it 
may  be  guessed.  She  made  no  reply,  but  sat  rigid  as  a  statue, 
her  wide  eyes  fixed  upon  the  great  open  sea.  She  was  not 
thinking,  as  a  much  less  interested  person  would  have  thought, 
about  Stephen's  concept  of  the  proprieties.  His  supposed 
breach  of  duty  toward  his  sister  concerned  her  not.  All  she 
knew  and  felt  was  that  she  was  miserably  unhappy.  When 
Stephen  returned,  the  victim  of  his  atrocious  act  had  gone. 

In  her  cabin  Juanita  threw  herself  upon  the  bed  and  wept. 
Her  mind  was  not  in  a  reasoning  mood,  else  she  had  contrasted 
Ralph  Bolston's  manly  bearing  with  the  impulsiveness  and 
recklessness  of  young  Holt,  and  bided  her  time  for  the  certain 
vindication  of  the  prudent  Englishman. 

In  this  frame  of  mind,  too,  she  naturally  would  not  take  into 
consideration  her  own  temperament,  that  particular  phase  of  it 
which  yielded  too  readily  to  gloomy  apprehensions  in  the 
heart's  affairs.  She  could  think  only  of  the  loss  of  the  one  and 
only  man  who  had  impressed  his  image  upon  her  young  white 
soul — he  who  had  told  her  on  the  Tampico  pier  in  no  uncertain 
phrase  that  she  was  his  first  love ;  and  had  kissed  her  hand — 
there  it  was,  the  hand  upon  which  the  tears,  in  her  extreme  sor- 
row, were  now  raining,  as  if  they  would  wash  away  the  impress 
of  his  precious  lips.  Ah,  Dieu!  Could  it  be  those  very  lips  were 
for  another  ? — that,  alas !  at  this  moment,  he  was  sealing  his 
vows  of  love  for  the  blue-eyed  Margaret?  Unhappy  Juanita! 

"It  is  nothing,  madre  mio.  Once  in  a  great  while  a  woman 
must  weep,  entirely  without  cause." 

Yet  the  Senora,  who,  in  the  midst  of  her  siesta  in  the  adjoin- 
ing cabin,  had  been  awakened  by  her  daughter's  sobs,  knew 


314  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

that  an  unusual  affliction  had  come  to  Juanita,  but  she  did  not 
press  her  for  an  explanation. 

The  one  consolation  now  remaining  to  support  the  distracted 
girl  was  that  no  one,  not  even  her  devoted  mother,  was  aware 
of  her  very  great  affection  for  him — none  save  Bolston  and 
herself.  Surely,  now  that  all  seemed  to  be  at  an  end,  he  would 
not  subject  her  to  additional  humiliation  by  allowing  their 
attachment  to  become  public  property.  Such  was  her  sensitive 
pride. 

For  reasons  which  she  herself  could  not  fathom,  Juanita 
entertained  no  animosity  toward  Margaret.  And  yet,  she  could 
not  endure  the  thought  that,  being  Mrs.  Holt's  guest,  she  and 
her  mother  must  go  to  the  millionaire's  home  on  their  arrival 
at  the  Capital.  How  much  she  regretted  that  they  were  not  at 
the  stone  house  on  the  hill  again,  where  she  might  spend  the 
remainder  of  her  days  in  silent  sorrow.  From  this  dilemma  she 
was  soon  relieved,  being  informed  by  the  Senora  that  Mrs. 
Grey  had  insisted  that  they  should  partake  of  her  hospitality, 
for  a  time  at  least,  during  their  stay.  Accordingly,  it  was 
arranged  that  Juanita  and  her  mother  should  go  to  the  home  of 
the  Greys  on  the  arrival  of  the  "Penelope." 

Then  she  resolved  that  for  the  rest  of  the  voyage  she  would 
remain  in  her  cabin,  permitting  it  to  be  understood  she  was  in- 
disposed, thus  minimizing  the  embarrassments  of  a  most  awk- 
ward situation.  In  her  present  state  of  mind  a  meeting  with 
Bolston  must  surely  give  rise  to  unpleasant  complications  and 
perhaps  betray  her  solitary  grief  to  others.  All  anxiety  as  to 
her  health  was  removed  when  Doctor  Richardson  announced, 
after  a  professional  call  upon  her,  that  it  was  only  a  slight 
disturbance  of  the  digestive  function.  Even  in  these  modern 
times  few  physicians  are  able,  through  preliminary  diagnosis, 
to  distinguish  between  stomach  derangement  and  the  emo- 
tional illnesses  of  the  heart. 


THE     HOMEWARD     VOYAGE  315 

Although  he  did  not  betray  his  anxiety,  the  Englishman  made 
frequent  inquiries  of  the  Senora  concerning  "the  invalid,"  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  day  that  brought  the  voyage  of  the 
"Penelope"  to  a  close,  finding  a  struggling  and  lonely  little 
for-get-me-not  in  one  of  Mrs.  Holt's  window  boxes,  he  sent  it 
to  Juanita  with  his  card,  upon  which  was  written:  "So  very 
glad  to  learn  your  indisposition  is  not  serious.  It  will  be  a  de- 
light to  see  you  on  deck  again." 

It  was  a  message,  coming  from  one  of  Bolston's  tempera- 
ment, that  was  not  wholly  devoid  of  sentiment.  "And  the 
flower,"  thought  Juanita — "there  is  none  in  the  box  whose 
language  denotes  faithlessness."  This  unworthy  thought  she 
instantly  repelled  by  pressing  the  little  bloom  to  her  lips.  "I 
will  love  him  always,"  she  cried.  Emerging  now  from  the 
chaos  of  her  earlier  trepidation,  she  had  begun  to  reason. 

Shortly  before  the  "Penelope"  came  to  her  anchorage  in  the 
harbor  at  the  foot  of  the  Capital  city,  Mrs.  Holt's  guests 
assembled  on  the  forward  deck  and  discussed  plans  for  the 
immediate  future.  Juanita  was  the  last  to  join  the  group.  She 
was  accorded  a  most  generous  reception,  Bolston  being  among 
the  first  to  greet  her.  She  noted  the  sturdy,  earnest  manner 
that  had  been  his  dominant  characteristic  from  the  beginning 
of  their  acquaintance.  Could  it  be  that  behind  this  manly 
exterior  all  was  perfidy  and  dishonor?  The  answer  to  this 
thought  might  have  been  read  in  the  guilty  face  of  Stephen 
Holt  when  he  came  up  to  express  his  pleasure  in  seeing  Juanita 
again.  Still,  her  greeting  was  none  the  less  cordial  on  account 
of  Stephen's  furtive  glances,  and  she  responded  cordially  when 
Margaret  kissed  her. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

A    DOUBLE    CARNATION 

Once  upon  a  time  a  very  estimable  man  was  called  to  the 
highest  councils  of  his  country.  And  there  was  great  acclaim. 
He  went  forth  to  his  duty,  as  God  had  given  him  the  ability 
to  see  it  and  the  strength  to  sustain  it.  But  he  was  soon  beset 
by  tribulation.  Contrive  as  he  would,  he  seemed  not  to  meet 
with  popular  approval,  for  there  were  those  about  him  that 
were  covetous,  who  secretly  hoped  to  supplant  him;  therefore, 
they  found  many  faults  in  him.  And  naught  he  did  sufficed 
to  please  those  around  him,  nor  the  fallible  public.  Finally, 
he  had  not  a  single  virtue  to  his  credit;  he  was  all  blackness. 
Then  he  died.  There  was  excess  of  ceremony  and  pageantry  at 
his  funeral.  His  late  detractors  were  there  in  numbers.  They 
laid  flowers  upon  his  bier,  having  sprinkled  them  profusely 
with  their  tears.  Said  the  orator  at  the  grave :  "Here  lies 
all  that  is  mortal  of  a  good  and  great  man."  "Amen,"  re- 
sponded the  flower-bearers.  And  they  did  weep. 

You,  my  dear  readers,  have  known  such  men,  have  seen 
many  such  funerals.  Mayhap  you  were  at  this  one.  If  so, 
I  trust  your  tears  were  genuine,  not  like  those  of  the  crocodile. 
Also,  that  this  little  parable  may  serve  to  assure  the  critic 
of  the  good  intentions  of  the  author  hereof  in  pointing  a  moral 
if  not  adorning  a  tale.  Not  that  the  critic  has  any  terrors 
for  him;  for  already  does  he  know,  and  he  hereby  freely  con- 


A     DOUBLE     CARNATION  317 

fesses  it,  that  he  is  unworthy  of  the  critic's  acquaintance  even, 
from  a  literary  point  of  view.  Neither  will  he  ask  the  critic 
to  give  a  definition  of  what  really  good  literature  is,  no  more 
than  he  would  solicit  his  opinion  of  the  best  Burgundy  or  the 
most  insinuating  Madeira,  without  which,  as  I  have  been 
reliably  informed,  the  good  old  gentlemen  and  eminent  who 
wrote  our  federal  constitution  would  have  been  unequal  to 
the  task. 

And  this  reminds  me  of  an  incident  in  the  life  of  an  able 
and  conscientious  judge,  who,  having  written  a  decision  in  an 
important  case,  laid  it  aside  for  awhile  before  promulgating  it 
from  the  bench.  Taking  it  up  again,  he  read  it  over  very 
carefully.  At  the  end,  as  if  he  had  been  reviewing  the  opinion 
of  a  distinguished  colleague,  or  listening  to  a  profound  argu- 
ment at  the  bar,  instead  of  reading  a  production  of  his  own,  he 

exclaimed:  "What  fool  wrote  this  opinion,  I  wonder?" 

Being  at  a  dinner  one  evening  with  some  friends,  the  judge 
partook  of  several  bumpers  of  good  Burgundy,  with  the  usual 
result  that  it  roused  his  mental  faculties  to  the  point  of  hope- 
less sleeplessness,  by  consequence  of  which  he  spent  the  night 
rewriting  the  opinion  aforementioned.  When  he  read  it  over 
a  few  days  later,  he  was  moved  to  flatter  himself  that,  although 
it  reversed  his  former  views,  giving  the  suit  to  the  plaintiff 
instead  of  to  the  defendant,  as  in  the  first  opinion,  nothing 
so  learned  had  ever  before  been  conceived  in  the  mind  of  a 
judge. 

But  this  yarn  may  be  off  the  same  spool  with  that  other 
one,  of  more  recent  origin,  wherein  my  brother  of  "The 
White  Prophet"  is  reputed  to  have  boldly  asserted  that  three 
out  of  four  of  the  critic  class  are  victims  of  subacute  diodonitis, 
if  any  of  you  know  what  that  is.  This  I  neither  affirm  nor 
deny,  for  I  have  my  own  ailments. 

Well,  it  was  so  in  respect  of  the  unfortunate  hero  of  this 


318  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

story.  After  years  of  effort  to  please  his  countrymen — to  sat- 
isfy all  his  friends  and  convince  his  enemies  of  their  error  in 
prosecuting  a  backbiting  campaign  against  him — like  the  very 
estimable  man  in  the  parable,  he  died;  that  is,  he  was  sup- 
posed to  be  dead.  Inasmuch  as  everyone  believed  he  had  been 
abducted,  and  no  one,  except  it  be  Andy  Akers,  could  have 
furnished  any  evidence  upon  which  to  found  such  a  belief,  nor 
to  discredit  it,  so,  also,  did  everyone  now  believe  that  Cor- 
nelius Twain  was  dead.  Hence,  there  was  universal  sorrow, 
and  it  was  genuine,  for  the  most  part,  except  only,  perhaps, 
among  the  consolidators,  who  made  such  noisy  display  of  their 
grief  over  his  loss  as  to  be  suspected  of  hypocrisy. 

Imagine,  then,  the  astonishment  of  the  few  senators  who 
were  in  their  seats,  on  the  convening  of  the  body  one  morning 
not  many  days  after  the  "Penelope's"  interesting  company 
arrived  in  Washington,  when,  almost  doubting  their  own  eyes, 
they  saw  Twain  walk  into  the  chamber  and  sit  down  at  his 
desk! — not  only  the  astonishment  of  senators  but  also  the  con- 
sternation of  the  consolidators  in  the  reserved  stalls,  where  they 
had  been  lounging  during  the  daily  sessions  of  the  past  eight 
months,  in  constant  expectation  that  the  "unfinished  business" 
would  be  laid  before  the  Senate  by  the  presiding  officer,  and 
that,  a  tie  vote  being  discovered,  the  Vice- President  would 
exercise  his  constitutional  right  to  decide,  and,  the  decision  be- 
ing in  favor  of  the  second  amendment,  as  they  had  no  doubt  it. 
would  be,  the  Senate  would  then  proceed  with  further  voting 
on  the  Purchase  bill,  which,  according  to  their  hope  and  reck- 
oning, would  surely  be  defeated. 

The  amazement  was  very  great,  indeed.  Twain  had  met 
with  some  difficulty  in  convincing  the  doorkeeper  of  his  iden- 
tity, for  there  was  a  remarkable  change  from  his  former  well- 
groomed  appearance,  and  he  had  grown  a  prodigious  beard 
which  completely  covered  his  strong  chin  and  added  many 


A     DOUBLE     CARNATION  319 

years  to  his  real  age.  But,  when  he  spoke  to  the  bewildered 
guardian  of  the  sacred  precincts,  his  familiar  voice  dispelled 
all  doubt,  and  he  was  allowed  to  pass  through  the  portal  to 
the  consecrated  chamber.  He  was  meagre  of  flesh,  and  his 
face  was  pale;  yet  there,  still,  were  the  finely-chiseled  and 
resolute  features,  and  his  eyes,  deeply  sunken  though  they  weje, 
had  not  lost  their  keen,  penetrating  forcefulness. 

The  Senate  rose  as  a  body  when  he  came  in  at  the  green 
baize  door,  whence  the  startled  page  had  entered  on  that  fear- 
ful night  of  Twain's  disappearance.  The  members,  in  awe- 
stricken  silence,  remained  standing  as  he  passed  slowly  to  his 
seat.  Nothing  like  this  had  ever  before  taken  place  in  the 
Senate.  He  paused  in  the  middle  aisle,  bowed,  first  to  the 
Altrocratic  side,  and  then,  with  a  still  lower  bow,  to  the 
Conservatives. 

It  was  not  until  Baxter  was  at  Twain's  side,  and,  after 
warmly  clasping  his  hand,  had  taken  from  the  lapel  of1  his 
coat  a  fragrant  double  carnation  and  handed  it  to  him,  that 
the  occupants  of  the  galleries  realized  what  had  happened; 
whereupon  they  indulged  in  a  burst  of  thunderous  applause. 
The  Vice- President  rapped  with  his  gavel,  and  made  the  usual 
proclamation  that  the  galleries  would  be  cleared  should  the 
demonstrations  be  repeated.  But  everyone  knew  that  nothing 
of  the  kind  had  ever  been  done,  and  that  on  this  occasion  it 
was  less  likely  to  happen  than  on  any  other  that  could  be 
imagined.  And,  too,  the  Vice- President  had  no  doubt  that 
before  the  end  of  the  day  some  speeches  would  be  made  that 
would  empty  the  galleries  automatically. 

Soon  a  deep  hush  fell  upon  the  scene.  Strong  men  were 
now  in  tears ;  fair  women  wept  with  them.  Baxter,  with  his 
carnation,  had  touched  the  hearts  of  the  throng  in  the  gal- 
leries and  of  senators  as  well;  had  stirred  one  of  the  exalted 
emotions  of  man. 


320  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Abou  spoke  more  slow, 

But  cheerily  still;  and  said,  "I  pray  thee,  then, 
Write  me  as  one  who  loves  his  fellowmen." 
The  angel  wrote  and  vanished.    The  next  night 
It  came  again  with  a  great  wakening  light, 
And  showed  the  names  whom  love  of  God  had  blest, 
And,  lo!  Ben  Adhem's  name  led  all  the  rest! 

As  I  entered  the  Capitol  building  my  Philosopher  friend, 
who  has  already  been  introduced  to  the  reader,  was  coming 
out.  He  had  witnessed  the  unusual  scene  from  an  obscure 
corner  of  the  public  gallery,  where  he  was  wont  to  sit  among 
the  proletarian  visitors.  He  despised  maudlin  sentiment,  and 
on  that  account  kept  away  from  the  funerals  of  distinguished 
statesmen.  I  knew  by  the  cynical  smile  on  his  face  that  his 
mind  was  charged  with  a  message  it  would  be  worth  while 
waiting  to  hear. 

"What  fools  these  mortals  be,"  said  he  when  I  greeted  him 
and  asked  if  Twain  was  really  returned.  "Yes,  sir,  he  is  in 
the  chamber,  and  there  is  much  senseless  emotion  astir  about  it. 
I  have  never  doubted  he  would  return  in  due  time.  Neither 
has  the  mirthful  Mr.  Akers,  whose  short  period  of  imprison- 
ment on  a  charge  of  which  he  is  both  guilty  and  innocent  will 
now  be  used  to  identify  him  with  the  martyrs;  while  the 
gullible  multitude  will  never  know  the  exact  truth  concerning 
the  whole  gloomy  business,  for  the  scarlet  press  will  go  on 
insisting  upon  its  abduction  theory,  even  though  the  doctors, 
guided  by  the  titular  goddess  of  the  Greeks,  find  the  vagrant 
impediment  that  is  pressing  on  the  poor  fellow's  brain.  What 
disturbs  me  is  the  outcome  of  the  uncertain  struggle  that  has 
been  going  on  all  these  months  between  Twain's  heroic  spirit 
and  the  aforesaid  impediment,  and  which  of  these  is  to  be  the 
final  victor.  That  is  what  science  is  interested  in  knowing ;  yet, 
what  a  sad  tragedy  it  is !  I  hope  Athene  is  to  prevail.  But  it 
is  plain  to  be  seen  that  the  mongering  consolidators  would  shed 


A     DOUBLE     CARNATION  321 

no  tears  if  the  cerebral  obstruction  should  succeed  in  doing  its 
worst,  so  that  they  might  go  on,  unhindered,  in  their  mad 
endeavor  for  universal  dominion  by  the  process  of  monopoly. 
This  thought  makes  me  tremble  for  the  fate  of  the  Altrocratic 
party,  which  must,  I  fear,  like  all  its  political  predecessors,  fall 
under  the  baleful  influence  that  knows  naught  by  the  potency 
of  gold.  Farewell,  then,  to  altruism,  whose  fate,  alas!  is  now 
no  longer  in  the  balance  even,  for  behold  the  mighty  power 
of  predaceous  greed,  with  its  soulless,  clanging  instruments 
of  iron  and  steel,  all  aglow  with  blood,  as  it  stands  menacingly 
and  dominant  in  every  avenue  of  enterprise — the  conquering 
spirit  of  a  new  kind  of  god,  soon  to  be  the  only  God  that  man 
will  know,  or  fear,  or  love." 

"All  about  Sen'ter  Wane  come  back,"  cried  a  newsboy. 
The  Philosopher  waved  him  aside  and  bade  him  be  off,  but 
the  urchin  preferred  to  listen  to  my  friend's  prophetic  dec- 
lamation. When  the  Philosopher  stopped  to  take  a  new  breath 
the  newsboy,  turning  irreverently  upon  his  heel  and  moving 
away,  exclaimed: 

"Ah,  wat's  de  use  of  ennyting?" 

"Nothing,"  replied  the  Philosopher,  looking  away  from  the 
little  fellow;  "that  is,  nothing  for  empty  minds,  except  to  be 
willingly  carried  along  on  the  hysterical  human  tide,  only  to 
be  dashed  to  destruction  on  the  rocks  of  error  and  ignorance. 
Such,  alas!  is  the  power  of  wealth,  and  yet,  my  friend,  how 
weak  the  wealth  of  power!" 

I  have  frequently  wondered,  since  then,  which  of  these  is 
to  achieve  the  greater  influence  among  the  heedless  masses — 
the  philosophy  of  my  learned  friend  or  the  barbaric  logic  of 
the  newsboy. 

And  what  a  red-letter  day  it  was  for  those  Capitol  visitors 
who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  present.  In  the  President's 
stall  were  some  of  the  chief  executive's  family,  together  with 


322  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

Bolston,  Juanita,  Captain  Noggins  and  Susie,  for  by  this  time 
these  were  become  great  favorites  at  the  White  House.  The 
Captain  was  using  his  big  red  handkerchief  industriously;  he 
knew  "the  feelin'."  Little  Susie  had  never  been  in  such  a 
solemn  place  before  then;  it  was  all  very  strange  to  her,  and 
she  looked  appealingly  at  Juanita  and  Bolston,  who  sat  near 
her,  very  close  together. 

As  has  been  said,  from  the  moment  that  Senator  Packen- 
ham  suddenly  stopped  talking  and  took  his  seat  some  eight 
months  ago,  the  anxious  leaders  and  disciples  of  consolida- 
tion had  not  been  absent  from  the  other  reserved  stalls  during 
any  session  of  the  body.  Nor  were  they  expecting  to  see 
Twain,  whom  they  supposed  to  be  forever  gone  from  his  place 
in  the  Senate.  It  was  no  matter,  so  that  he  did  not  return 
against  the  Purchase  bill  vote.  Such  was  their  charity  for 
distressed  humankind;  such,  indeed,  their  respect  for  the  insti- 
tution of  government  and  the  dignity  of  the  American  Senate. 

Twain  was  now  the  center  of  a  happy  group  of  statesmen, 
and,  during  the  recess  that  was  taken  so  that  they  might  shake 
his  hands  and  offer  their  congratulations,  even  the  Vice- Presi- 
dent came  down  from  his  place  to  do  him  honor.  It  was  as 
if  the  senator  had  just  returned  after  a  world-journey  filled 
with  splendid  triumphs.  Of  course  no  one  questioned  him 
concerning  his  strange  absence,  nor  of  the  cause  of  it.  Indeed, 
had  anyone  done  so,  it  is  doubtful  if  Twain  himself  could  have 
given  a  correct  answer;  and  a  truthful  answer  would  have 
created  a  real  sensation.  But,  now  that  he  was  in  his  seat 
again,  there  was  no  immediate  necessity  for  an  explanation. 
Even  the  members  of  the  Press  Gallery — an  assemblage  of 
thorough  gentlemen,  be  it  said,  such  as  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  at  any  other  legislative  center  in  the  world — would 
not  obtrude  themselves  unduly  upon  him,  for  by  this  time, 


A     DOUBLE     CARNATION  323 

no  doubt,  they,  the  first  of  all,  were  aware  of  his  unfortunate 
situation. 

When  the  Senate  reconvened,  and  all  was  gravely  silent 
again,  Burrill  rose  and  addressed  the  chair.  "Mr.  President," 
said  he,  "on  a  former  occasion  I  made  some  remarks  about  an 
unrecorded  vote.  If  my  words  gave  offense  to  any  senator 
I  now  withdraw  them.  May  I  inquire  if  there  is  not  some 
unfinished  business  to  dispose  of?" 

The  Vice- President  opened  a  drawer  in  his  great  desk.  He 
drew  from  it  a  long  white  sheet  of  paper,  somewhat  yellowed 
with  age,  and  solemnly  passed  it  to  the  clerk  in  front  of  him. 
The  clerk,  taking  the  sheet,  turned,  facing  the  Senate.  He 
looked  over  the  body  for  a  moment.  Then  he  sat  down,  laid 
the  sheet  before  him  on  the  long  table,  and  picked  up  a  pen- 
holder; it  did  not  now  elude  his  grasp,  as  on  another  occa- 
sion. Twain  was  standing  in  his  place,  and  was  formally 
recognized  by  the  chair. 

"Mr.  Twain."  (The  clerk  had  resumed  the  calling  of  the 
roll  on  the  second  amendment.) 

"No,"  answered  Twain.     It  was  like  a  voice  from  the  tomb. 

Then  there  was  a  rearrangement  of  pairs  and  some  additional 
votes  were  cast  on  that  particular  and  now  historic  roll  call, 
for  almost  the  entire  membership  was  present. 

"Senators,"  exclaimed  the  Vice- President,  when  the  clerk 
gave  him  the  corrected  tally  sheet,  "on  the  vote  on  the  amend- 
ment to  the  pending  bill  the  ayes  are  forty-five,  the  noes  are 
forty-six.  The  noes  have  it,  and  the  amendment  is  lost." 

A  great  sigh  of  relief  went  up  from  those  on  the  floor  of  the 
chamber.  It  was  echoed  by  the  occupants  of  the  galleries,  and 
was  followed  by  a  whirlwind  of  applause.  The  Vice- President 
did  not  use  his  gavel  now. 

There  were  other  amendments.     A  few  were  voted  into  the 


324  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

bill ;   many  were   voted  down.     They   were   of   small   conse- 
quence. 

At  the  end,  Twain  rose  in  his  place.  A  buzz  of  subdued  ex- 
clamations came  from  the  galleries,  whose  occupants  leaned 
forward  to  see  him  or  to  catch  his  words.  Senators  turned 
in  their  chairs  that  they  might  observe  and  hear  him.  Those 
having  the  privilege  of  the  floor — the  entire  membership  of  the 
House  seemed  to  be  present — came  closer,  craning  their  necks, 
the  better  to  see  and  to  listen. 

He  held  in  his  right  hand  a  small  package  of  typewritten 
sheets  much  soiled  and  worn.  Baxter's  carnation  was  in  the 
buttonhole  of  his  ragged  and  bewrinkled  frock  coat,  for  he 
had  not  been  at  his  lodgings  to  dress  for  the  occasion,  coming, 
as  he  had,  from  no  one  knew  where,  nor  did  anyone  ever 
know.  A  page  placed  a  glass  of  water  on  his  desk.  By  this 
time  the  murmurings  of  the  onlookers  had  subsided.  Every- 
thing was  quiet;  everyone  expectant.  The  supposed  victim  of 
Andy  Akers,  Bill  Giddings,  Sam  Ives  and  Eph  Fox  was  there 
in  the  flesh ;  he  was  now  speaking. 

"Mr.  President,"  he  began  in  solemn  voice  and  measured 
phrase,  "I  wish  to  apologize  to  the  Senate  for  my  prolonged 
absence.  It  appears  to  have  been  unavoidable.  No  man  has 
ever  learned  the  secret  art  of  overcoming  fate  or  controlling 
destiny.  Before  I  proceed  I  send  to  the  clerk's  desk  a  pro- 
posed substitute  for  the  pending  bill.  It  had  been  my  intention 
to  offer  it  at  an  earlier  date.  Circumstances  over  which  I  had 
no  control  prevented.  I  offer  it  now,  and  will  ask  that  it  may 
be  read.  Afterward  it  may  lie  on  the  table.  Other  senators 
may  wish  to  speak  to  it." 

At  this  point  the  self-centered  Halsey  rose  in  his  place. 
He  asked  if  the  proposed  substitute  was  lengthy,  and  if  so 
would  not  the  senator  agree  that  it  should  simply  be  printed 


A     DOUBLE     CARNATION  325 

for  the  information  of  the  Senate,  thus  avoiding  consumption 
of  time  in  its  being  read. 

"Of  course  the  senator  will  explain  it  in  his  speech,"  said 
Halsey,  "and  the  substitute  will  be  read  before  it  is  voted  on. 
For  one  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  the  explanation." 

And  it  was  so  ordered.    Then  Twain  went  on: 

"My  explanation  of  its  provisions  will  be  brief.  There  is 
no  necessity  for  great  elaboration.  The  proposed  substitute  is 
devoid  of  confusing  phraseology.  The  genius  of  lawyers  and 
courts  will  not  be  taxed  to  understand  it.  If  I  may  say  as 
much,  there  are  no  intricacies  in  it  that  will  require  expensive 
interpretation,  none,  I  hope,  that  will  give  rise  to  doubts,  such 
as  have  been  so  often  raised  in  long  litigation  over  similar 
questions.  This  ought  to  be  pleasing  to  the  opponents  of  the 
measure,  those  outside  the  Senate,  who  will  not  be  impoverished 
by  attorney's  fees  when  they  come  to  attack  the  law." 

"The  senator  has  no  doubt  about  its  constitutionality?"  in- 
quired Baxter,  now  wearing  his  legislative  smile. 

"None  whatever,"  replied  Twain.  "It  is  simply  an  elabora- 
tion of  a  section  of  the  Sherman  law,  which  some  officers  of 
the  Government  have  nullified  by  neglecting  to  execute  it. 
This  substitute  directs  the  condemnation  of  the  instrumental- 
ities of  monopoly,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  authorizes 
the  Government  to  take  over  the  portion  so  condemned  at  a 
price  to  be  ascertained  by  a  board  of  appraisers  equitably 
chosen,  with  an  appeal  by  either  party  to  the  courts ;  the  prop- 
erty to  be  operated  by  the  Government,  by  lease  or  otherwise, 
pending  the  proceedings.  Thus,  the  burden  of  proof  will  be 
upon  the  offending  party,  instead  of  upon  the  Government, 
which  is  the  agent  and  servant  of  the  innocent  multitude. 
There  will  be  no  delays — no  procrastination,  no  duplication  of 
authority  in  the  various  departments.  Direct  responsibility 
will  fall  upon  the  President.  He  must  declare  the  existence 


326  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

of  a  given  monopoly.  There  are  many  from  which  he  will  be 
able  to  choose.  There  is  no  alternative;  therefore  there  will 
be  no  delay.  This  is  not  widespread  government  ownership, 
as  it  is  generally  understood;  it  will  prevent  government 
ownership,  unless  the  combinations  find  some  new  method  of 
escaping  the  law.  They  will  try  to  find  it,  but  they  will  fail." 

Then  Twain  entered  somewhat  at  length  into  the  details 
of  the  Altrocratic  program,  closing  his  speech  with  this  perora- 
tion, dispassionately  delivered: 

"Failing  to  regulate  and  control  the  hand  of  avarice,  to 
which  all  enterprise  has  passed  by  slow  processes,  we  here  and 
now  assert  the  right  of  the  Government  to  condemn  the  instru- 
mentalities of  monopoly  by  due  process  of  law — a  God-given 
function  of  justice  that  can  never  be  granted  away — and  to 
rejuvenate  legitimate  industry;  paying  a  fair  price  for  that 
which  is  taken;  taking  only  those  things  which  are  an  inflic- 
tion upon  domestic  commerce,  a  hindrance  to  competitive 
industry  and  a  menace  to  liberty.  Herein,  Mr.  President,  lies 
the  remedy.  We  should  not  deceive  ourselves  longer.  Con- 
gress may  go  on  with  its  panaceas  to  the  end  of  time,  but 
unless  it  strikes  deeply  at  the  root  of  the  disease  there  will 
come  no  relief.  We  may  build  canals,  annex  foreign  countries, 
propose  reciprocity,  enact  banking  laws,  fiddle  with  finance, 
elect  senators  by  direct  vote  of  the  people,  inaugurate  the 
referendum,  adopt  recall,  establish  new  courts  or  fly  to  the 
moon,  legislatively,  but,  sir,  until  we  dispel  monopoly  by  abso- 
lutely destroying  it,  wherever  necessary;  until  healthful  com- 
petition is  restored  in  the  business  world  and  tyranny  in  trade 
is  overthrown,  there  will  be  no  real  progress.  Mark  the  pre- 
diction! Once  the  statutory  authority  to  resort  to  this  expe- 
dient is  understood  and  put  into  operation,  monopoly  itself  will 
strike  its  colors  of  oppression.  Already  the  forbidding  cloud 
so  long  hanging  over  the  destinies  of  the  Republic  is  breaking. 


A     DOUBLE     CARNATION  327 

Altruism,  through  the  demand  of  an  awakened  populace,  has 
entered  the  spirit  of  public  affairs.  The  contending  cohorts 
of  greed  will  be  allowed  their  pound  of  flesh;  yet  they  will 
be  compelled  to  take  their  destroying  hands  from  the  stifled 
throat  of  enterprise." 

At  no  time  had  Twain  ever  appeared  to  be  more  lucid  than 
now,  nor  had  his  words  ever  rung  truer.  What  if  the  effort, 
in  the  end,  should  cost  him  his  life?  The  individual  loss  were 
nothing;  the  preservation  of  the  Republic  everything. 

After  this  the  constitutional  lawyers  of  the  Senate,  as  the 
Vice-President  had  suspected  they  would  do,  talked  the  gal- 
leries to  emptiness,  except  as  to  those  who  were  interested  in 
the  final  vote  on  the  Purchase  bill,  which,  when  taken  late  that 
evening,  showed  five  majority  in  its  favor. 

At  his  lodgings,  to  which  he  managed  to  drive  alone  in  a 
closed  cab,  Twain  gave  orders  that  he  was  not  to  be  disturbed 
by  anyone ;  he  was  weary  and  needed  rest.  Nor  did  the  trusty 
sentinel  at  his  door  disobey  the  command,  not  even  to  admit 
Bolston  and  the  editor  Grey,  nor  to  apprise  his  master  of  re- 
peated telephone  calls  from  the  Grey  residence,  where  Enid, 
being  advised  of  her  lover's  return,  anxiously  awaited  his 
coming.  But,  alas !  She  did  but  wait,  and  sigh,  and  walk  the 
floor  through  the  lingering  night,  peering  dazedly  through 
the  lattice  of  her  windows  as  the  dull  daylight  fell  slowly  into 
her  appartment. 

And  when  morning  came — Cornelius  Twain  was  gone ! 

Some  indefinite  word  that  he  left  with  his  faithful  valet  led 
the  many  friends  who  called  there  to  believe  he  would  soon 
return.  Indeed,  the  public  beguiled  itself  with  this  expectation, 
until  an  unauthorized  press  report  asserted  vaguely  that  the 
senator  was  seriously  ill  and  could  not  be  seen,  and,  later,  that 
he  had  gone  to  a  sanitarium  for  treatment.  But  these  reports 
were  wholly  unfounded. 


328  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

If  you,  my  dear  reader,  can  gain  the  confidence  of  Ralph 
Bolston,  and  if  he  shall  tell  you  as  he  has  told  it  to  me,  and, 
alas !  as  Enid  Grey  knows  it — but,  as  I  shall  spare  you  the 
painful  story  just  now,  it  were  well  that  you  should  spare 
yourself,  unless  you  are  consumed  by  maudlin  curiosity.  Even 
then  it  were  far  better  that  the  dolorous  details  should  go 
untold. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

MARTHA   GIDDINGS 

But  long  before  the  appalling  truth  was  even  suspected,  cer- 
tainly before  it  became  known,  except  to  those  I  have  mention- 
ed, there  was  great  consternation  among  the  consolidators. 

Andy  Akers  was  still  enjoying  himself  in  jail.  He  had 
grown  corpulent  upon  merriment — that  is,  he  had  laughed 
himself  to  a  condition  of  fatness. 

"Have  you  seen  Sam  Ives  or  heard  anything  about  his  health 
these  fine  days?"  This  question  he  was  sure  to  ask  whenever 
his  wife  or  Dick  Bostwick  came  to  his  cell,  which  was  frequent- 
ly. "I  hope  you  haven't  come  to  turn  me  loose,"  said  he  to 
Bostwick,  after  it  was  known  that  Twain  was  arrived. 

"No,"  replied  the  Chief;  "we  shall  need  you  in  court  before 
very  long,  I  apprehend." 

Then  Akers  laughed  so  heartily  that  several  buttons  about 
his  clothing  gave  away,  and  Eva  had  to  "mend  him  again,"  as 
she  said  to  the  turnkey.  Even  a  morose  man  who  is  fleshy  often 
meets  with  such  accidents. 

"Court !"  shouted  Akers,  when  he  could  breathe  again  from 
laughing.  "I'd  rather  go  there  just  now  than  to  Heaven,  but 
you  don't  dare  take  me  there,  Bostwick." 

Midst  all  these  happenings  Martha  Giddings  bore  herself 
with  patient  fortitude.  She  was  at  the  home  of  the  kindly 
Bostwick,  waiting,  hoping  for  the  hour  when  she  might  again 


330  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

feel  the  clasp  of  Asher  Wells'  arms  and  receive  the  thrilling 
impress  of  his  lips.  Did  she  wait  in  vain?  Was  her  hope  rea- 
lized? We  shall  see. 

Her  father  was  still  a  patient  at  the  rest  cure.  He  seldom 
left  the  building,  and  then  only  to  walk  with  Martha  in  the 
evening  air.  He  had  promised  never  to  leave  the  premises  until 
Bostwick  gave  him  permission  to  do  so. 

By  the  time  the  legislature  had  convened  at  M the 

obedient  and  devoted  Ives  was  on  hand,  of  course,  planning  to 
defeat  the  railroad  tax  bill  which  the  Altrocrats  favored,  and 
to  assist  the  legislature  in  carrying  out  "the  expressed  wish  of 
the  people,"  who  had  nominated  Sam  Sloane  at  the  primaries 
to  succeed  Cornelius  Twain.  Twain  had  not  been  a  candidate 
under  the  primary  law,  for  the  reason  that  the  period  within 
which  senatorial  petitions  could  be  filed,  had  expired  while 
he  was  still  in  self  exile.  And  Parsons,  having  withdrawn 
from  the  senatorial  race  in  the  interest  of  the  Twain  faction, 
had  been  nominated  and  afterward  elected  to  the  office  of 
governor. 

But  Twain  was  now  returned  and  had  taken  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  again;  yet  Sloane  gave  no  sign  of  keeping  his  promise 
to  withdraw.  This  was  due  to  the  insistence  of  Ives  that  if 
the  tax  bill  became  a  law  and  Sloane  did  not  go  to  the  Senate, 
Conservative  prestige  in  the  state  would  suffer.  Incidentally, 
Ives'  own  prestige  might  be  impaired! 

It  was  a  situation  filled  with  grave  dangers.  If  relief  was  to 
arrive  it  would  have  to  come  quickly.  Therefore  it  was  that  a 
local  wag  referred  to  the  plight  of  the  Conservatives  as  "the 
C.  Q.  D.  cause;"  the  vessel  was  sinking!  The  application  of 

this  pithy  witticism  was  appreciated  not  only  at  M ;  it 

was  manifest,  also,  in  the  elaborate  offices  of  the  Hon.  Ephraim 
Fox,  counsel  for  the  Come  Quick  Danger  railroad,  where  Eva 
Farnum  had  put  her  share  of  special  vintage  "out  of  sight." 


MARTHA     GIDDINGS  331 

Here  it  was  that  Fox  was  now  dictating  cipher  messages  to 
be  flashed  both  ways  on  the  corroded  copper  wires  as  they 
hummed  their  music  in  the  frosty  air.  The  messages  going  to 
the  west  were  for  Sam  Ives;  those  going  eastward  were  for 
Roberts,  the  man  of  composite,  corporate  wisdom,  whose  enig- 
matical references  to  Martha  Gidding's  important  part  in  the 
abduction  tragedy  were  now  fully  comprehended  even  by  Mr. 
Fox. 

Again,  the  Farnum  had  squandered  her  share  of  the  swag 
that  Ives  took  from  the  box  in  the  upper  right  hand  corner  of 
the  vault  when  Fox  gave  him  the  key.  The  conditions  were 
dubious ;  they  were  shrouded  in  repellant  gloom. 

When  the  political  tension  at  M had  reached  its  highest 

point,  and  the  Purchase  bill  had  come  out  of  conference  in 
Washington,  after  weeks  of  effort  on  the  part  of  some  of  the 
committee  to  load  it  with  indefinite  terms;  after  the  House 
had  accepted  it  as  passed  by  the  Senate  and  the  Conservative 
President  had  reluctantly  signed  it;  after  the  tax  bill  had  be- 
come a  law  at  M ,  Fox  went  east  to  see  Roberts. 

"Things  are  tightening,   Mr.   Fox." 

"I  must  admit  they  do  not  look  good,"  was  the  sad  reply. 

"She  is  still  with  her  father?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"What  progress  did  she  make  in  Mexico?" 

"We  cannot  find  out.  Ives  saw  Giddings,  but  he  will  not 
talk." 

"Unfortunate,"  replied  Roberts.  "Other  influences  are  at 
work,  I  suppose.  They  have  bottled  him  up,  I  fear.  You  must 
see  her." 

"It  will  be  useless,"  replied  Fox.  "She  has  given  her  pro- 
mise that  her  father  will  keep  his  own  counsel.  Of  that  I  am 
sure.  She  will  not  break  her  word.  Besides,  she  is  on  close 
terms  with  the  Greys  and  that  officious  Britisher.  They  would 


332  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

be  apprised  of  any  effort  I  might  make.  They  are  now  wait- 
ing for  something  of  the  kind  to  happen." 

"Has  the  man  that  is  in  jail  got  a  wife  or  a  daughter?" 
asked  Roberts,  now  convinced  that  his  original  plan  had  failed. 

"He  has  a  wife,"  for  by  this  time  Fox  was  cognizant  of  Eva's 
new  marital  relations. 

"You  must  reach  her.  Impress  upon  her  that  a  light  sen- 
tence for  her  husband,  with  a  liberal  consideration — " 

"That  would  take  him  into  court,  the  very  thing  that  Gid- 
dings  and  his  daughter  are  trying  hard  to  avoid,  and  that 
others  may  not  want.  And  the  remarkable  part  of  it  is  that 
Akers  is  clamoring  to  be  put  on  trial." 

"Then  let  it  be  known  to  Miss  Giddings  that  her  father's 
friend  is  going  to  plead  guilty ;  that  this  may  be  avoided  if  Gid- 
dings will  come  out  of  the  bottle." 

"And  we  would  then  come  out  of  the  some  hole  that  we 
went  in  at,  or  a  darker  one.  If  Giddings  talks,  that  Eng- 
lishman would  prosecute  Akers.  Giddings  would  be  a  wit- 
ness. You  see?" 

"Unfortunate,"  replied  Roberts.  "Have  you  any  sugges- 
tions, Mr.  Fox?" 

"Only  this — that  something  may  be  accomplished  through 
Mrs.  Akers.  She  is  an  indefinite  quantity.  She  loves  her  new 
husband,  as  I  am  told;  also  money,  as  I  know.  She  is  in  the 
city  and  is  coming  to  see  me  this  evening.  I  will  let  you  know 
tomorrow  what  she  recommends." 

So  Fox  and  Eva  were  soon  together  again. 

"No  champagne,  Eva;  I  want  you  to  keep  a  clear  head." 

"I  know  some  others,"  she  replied,  "that  are  badly  in  need 
of  it." 

"Champagne?" 

"Clear  heads." 


MARTHA     GIDDINGS  333 

"Ah!  Eva;  you've  lost  none  of  your  old  time  wit.  Yet, 
you're  not  old." 

"I've  lost  a  lot  of  money,  Eph.     I'm  broke." 

"Here's  a  thousand.  Don't  squander  it;  you  may  need  it. 
Times  are  hard.  I  may  help  you  further  if  you  are  careful  and 
succeed  in  keeping  your  husband  out  of  court." 

"You  are  an  old  dear,  Eph.     You  always  were  good  to  me." 

"I'm  your  friend,  Eva.  I  should  have  married  you;  it's 
too  late  now.  Besides,  you  love  some  one  else,  and  he's  in 
trouble." 

"Yes,  and  I'm  crazy  to  get  him  out  of  it.  That's  why  I'm 
here  to  see  you." 

"What  are  his  plans?" 

"He  has  none.  He's  simply  desperate.  Says  he's  been 
abandoned.  He's  anxious  to  go  to  trial.  I  want  to  prevent 
it.  You  must  help  me  to  do  it.  He's  hard  to  control,  you 
know,  and  is  very  vindictive." 

"Poor  fellow!  It's  too  utterly  bad.  Of  course  you  know 
him  better  than  anyone.  I'm  not  acquainted  with  him;  never 
saw  him,  not  to  my  knowledge." 

"Neither  has  Ives  seen  him,  not  to  my  knowledge.  He 
dealt  with  Giddings,  who  don't  come  to  see  him.  This  makes 
Andy  sore." 

"That's  the  way  of  too  many  men;  they  go  back  on  their 
friends." 

"You  won't  go  back  on  Andy — I  mean  on  me — Eph,  will 
you?" 

"On  you,  Eva?     Of  course  not." 

"What  can  be  done,  Eph?" 

"I  want  to  help  you,  Eva.  That's  the  only  interest  I  have 
in  it." 

"Order  a  bottle,  Eph,  I'm  all  run  down." 

"All  right,  Eva.     I'll  order  a  small  one." 


334  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"A  small  one  looks  so  cheap,  Eph.  Get  a  large  one  for  ap- 
pearances' sake." 

"I'm  afraid  you'll  get  wound  up  too  tightly,  as  you  did  the 
last  time." 

"You  may  drink  most  of  it,  Eph,  as  you  did  then." 

When  the  big  bottle  was  almost  empty  and  the  flush  of  youth 
was  in  Eva's  cheeks  again,  she  continued: 

"You  haven't  told  me  what  can  be  done." 

"Which  does  he  like  most — money  or  freedom?" 

"Money  above  everything."  The  astute  railroad  lawyer 
probably  suspected  that  Eva  was  now  speaking  more  particu- 
larly for  herself;  but  this  was  no  time  for  casuistry. 

"Does  he  say  so?" 

"Yes.  I  talked  with  him  yesterday.  I  suggested  a  small 
sentence  and  big  pay.  I  thought  you  might  fix  both.  That 
senator,  the  poor  fellow,  is  back  again,  and  people  don't  care 
as  much  as  they  did." 

"What  did  he  say?" 

"He  said  the  C.  Q.  D.  company  would  have  a  fine  time 
getting  money  enough,  with  all  its  bonds  and  stocks  thrown 
in,  to  buy  him  off." 

"Did  he  say  the  C.  Q.  D.  company?" 

"Yes." 

"A  mere  figure  of  speech,  I  suppose." 

"He  talked  as  if  it  wasn't  doing  right  by  him." 

"People  in  trouble,  Eva,  always  blame  everybody." 

"Order  another,  Eph;  you  look  pale." 

"Yes;  my  old  affliction.  I'll  be  obliged  to  take  the  waters 
some  day,  I  reckon." 

It  was  after  midnight  when  they  left  the  private  room  they 
were  in.  In  a  way  it  resembled  the  one  just  off  Fox's  office 
in  St.  Louis  when  he  and  Eva  were  together  "the  last  time." 


MARTHA     GIDDINGS  335 

Later  that  morning,  after  a  few  hours  of  restless  slumber, 
Fox  saw  Roberts  at  his  office. 

"He's  an  obdurate  fellow,  Mr.  Roberts — revengeful,  and  is 
anxious  for  trial.  He's  sore  at  Giddings." 

"And  you've  lost  your  power  over  Giddings." 

"Ives  has;  I  never  had  any,  not  directly." 

"If  he  is  taken  to  court,  Mr.  Fox,  and  there  are  any  others 
besides  Giddings  who  are  likely  to  be  wanted,  they  ought  not 
to  be  here."  Then  after  a  considerable  pause :  "I  regret  to 
see  that  you  are  not  looking  well,  Mr.  Fox.  Of  course  that 
hasn't  any  connection  with  the  other  matter." 

"Certainly  not;  I'm  all  run  down,  Mr.  Roberts,  too  much 
work.  I'll  be  obliged  to  take  the  waters  before  long." 

"As  you  have  no  personal  interest  in  this  thing,  Mr.  Fox, 
why  not  take  them  right  away?  There  are  some  great  springs 
in  the  interior  of  Nomansland.  You  cannot  afford  to  run 
down;  good  men  are  scarce.  Keep  me  advised  about  your 
health.  Good  day." 

Roberts  was  now  at  the  end  of  his  prolific  resources.  Not 
since  the  days  when,  in  behalf  of  the  Guild,  he  sat  on  the  lid 
of  a  certain  arduous  administration  in  Washington  until  he 
almost  had  nervous  prostration,  had  he  been  so  utterly  dejected; 
for  his  fame  was  now  in  danger  of  depreciation. 

Had  Eph  Fox  been  obliged  to  pay  Roberts  for  the  advice 
he  gave  him,  he  would  have  been  at  a  loss  to  have  guessed  the 
size  of  the  fee,  although  he  too  was  a  lawyer,  and  knew  how  to 
charge. 

It  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  Arthur  Grey  and 
Ralph  Bolston,  at  the  latter's  lodgings  in  Washington,  met  by 
appointment. 

"I've  hit  upon  a  plan  to  remove  a  great  burden  from  the 
mind  of  that  poor  suffering  Giddings  girl,  and  at  the  same 
time  do  a  little  stroke  of  politics,"  said  Grey. 


336  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

The  editor's  sympathetic  nature  made  him  always  the  cham- 
pion of  his  troubled  fellow  creatures.  His  chief  concern  now 
was  for  Martha  Giddings. 

"You  are  aware,"  said  he,  "of  the  legislative  situation  at 
M ." 

He  then  handed  the  Englishman  a  telegram  received  from 
Cy  Shirley  the  evening  before.  It  set  forth  that  the  Sloane 
forces  were  circulating  a  report  to  the  effect  that  Governor 
Parsons  was  trying  for  the  Senate. 

"I  expected  as  much,"  said  Grey,  laughingly. 

"Parsons  has  turned  traitor,"  exclaimed  Bolston  indignantly. 

"No,"  replied  the  editor.  "You  don't  know  American  poli- 
tics. It  is  a  ruse  of  the  opposition  to  offset  Sloane's  recreancy 
in  not  withdrawing  from  the  race  as  he  promised ;  and  you 
would  be  surprised  at  the  number  of  intelligent  men  who  will 
believe  it — so  many  always  ready  to  credit  a  falsehood." 

"Another  circular  trick;  I  see,"  replied  the  astonished  Eng- 
lishman. 

"Well,  it's  of  the  same  order.  But,  my  friend,"  continued 
Grey,  "it  is  about  time  we  began  to  throw  a  few  bombshells 
ourselves.  See  what  you  think  of  this  one."  Taking  a  letter 
from  his  pocket  the  editor  read: 

"The  time  has  come  when  I  must  speak.  I  can  bear  the 
burden  no  longer.  It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  are  concerned 
in  this  Twain  affair  to  help  me — I  mean  those  who  inspired  it. 
Moreover,  it  is  my  duty  as  a  faithful  friend  of  yours  to  advise 
you  that  my  detention  (for  that  is  what  it  amounts  to)  is  a 
part  of  a  plan  to  get  you  and  Fox ;  I  shall  not  be  surprised  if 
they  get  both  of  you  before  this  letter  reaches  its  destination. 
Thus  far  they  have  considerately  yielded  to  my  appeal  not  to 
make  public  the  real  purpose  of  my  visit  here.  Akers'  pre- 
liminary hearing  comes  off  in  a  few  days.  I  am  to  be  a  wit- 
ness. If  this  can  be  avoided  my  family's  good  name  may  be 


MARTHA     GIDDINGS  337 

saved.  Your  work  to  control  the  legislature  —  yours  and 
Fox's — does  not  help  matters.  If  you  would  let  go  I  might 
be  permitted  to  come  home  a  free  man.  If  you  persist,  the 
Akers  hearing  will  make  it  bad  for  everybody." 

"Do  you  smell  something  that  reminds  you  of  gunpowder?" 
remarked  Grey  with  a  good  natured  chuckle  when  he  had 
finished  reading,  "or  do  you  taste  dynamite?" 

"Both,"  exclaimed  Bolston.  "That  is  intended  for  the  Hon- 
orable Samuel  Ives,  I  presume." 

"It  is,"  replied  the  editor,  "and  it  has  been  signed  by  the 
Honorable  William  Giddings,  on  condition  that  he  be  allowed 
his  liberty,  when  Ives  and  Fox  let  go  their  hold  upon  the  legis- 
lature, which  is  friendly  to  Twain,  as  we  all  know,  and  will 
reelect  him  to  the  Senate,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
Sloane  received  all  the  votes  cast  at  the  primary.  It  will  also 
remove  a  great  cloud  from  Martha's  mind." 

"What  will  Ives  do?"  asked  Bolston. 

"Whatever  Fox  tells  him  to  do." 

"And  Fox?"  queried  Bolston  further. 

"Fox  will  not  fight  back,  Bolston.  They  will  take  their 
hands  off  the  situation  out  there,  have  no  fear.  Sloane  will 
withdraw  within  twenty-four  hours  after  that  letter  reaches 
Ives.  Keep  your  ear  to  the  ground.  You'll  hear  something 
fall." 

After  it  fell — after  Sloane  withdrew  in  an  eloquent  inter- 
view calling  public  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  man  of 
his  word — there  was  another  meeting  between  the  editor  and 
Bolston. 

"Have  you  read  of  the  serious  illness  of  Eph  Fox?"  in- 
quired the  editor.  "It  is  too  bad,"  he  continued  in  a  commis- 
erative tone.  "I  have  long  suspected  Eph  was  suffering  from 
the  effects  of  a  serious  malady.  Yet  he  will  recover,  I  have 


338  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

every  reason  to  believe — when  the  probability  of  his  incarcera- 
tion has  been  dispelled.     Listen." 

Unfolding  a  copy  of  a  newspaper  devoted  to  the  chroni- 
cling, in  softened  and  approving  phrase,  of  the  movements  and 
opinions  of  the  beneficiaries  of  consolidation,  he  read  a  "spe- 
cial telegram,"  dated  at  the  home  of  the  Hon.  Ephraim  Fox, 
setting  forth  the  startling  information  that  the  said  Fox, 
"one  of  the  leading  constitutional  lawyers  of  the  country,  the 
general  counsel  of  the  C.  Q.  D.  Railroad  company,"  had  sud- 
denly been  stricken  while  attending  to  the  duties  of  his  office; 
that  he  had  been  removed  in  great  haste  to  his  palatial  resi- 
dence in  the  suburbs  of  St.  Louis,  where  he  was  attended  by 
the  three  most  noted  specialists  of  the  city;  that  four  other 
Napoleons  of  medical  science  had  been  summoned,  arriving  on 
special  wings  of  steel. 

After  a  solemn  consultation  "it  was  rumored,"  the  dispatch 
said,  that  an  operation,  of  a  most  delicate  nature,  would  be 
necessary;  that  specially  sterilized  instruments  and  specially 
prepared  anesthetics  would  be  used  as  soon  as  a  special  corps 
of  trained  nurses  arrived  on  a  special  train  now  speeding  on 
its  way  at  fabulous  cost. 

"Poor  Fox!"  exclaimed  the  editor,  drying  his  eyes  with  a 
two-bit  handkerchief.  "Wonder  if  he  will  actually  bleed,  like 
others  do,  when  those  specially  imported  knives  are  used  on 
him?  Now,  here  is  the  nub  of  the  tragi-comedy,"  continued 
Grey.  "It  is  contained  in  a  concluding  paragraph  marked 
'later.'  It  reads :  'At  1 :46}4  this  morning  the  distinguished 
patient  was  sleeping  peacefully.'  Remarkable !"  exclaimed 
Grey.  "I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  a  man  with  a  con- 
science like  Eph's  can  do  such  a  thing.  'All  is  darkness  about 
the  magnificent  house.'  How  inconsiderate  of  Old  Sol !"  cried 
the  editor,  wiping  his  glasses  on  the  aforesaid  handkerchief. 
"The  sun  should  have  remained  up  last  night  to  furnish  a 


MARTHA     GIDDINGS  339 

special  light  on  an  occasion  of  this  kind.  'It  is  now  said  an 
operation  will  not  be  required.  It  is  reported  the  special  phy- 
sicians have  decided  the  great  lawyer  is  suffering  from  indiges- 
tion.' That  is  bad,"  sighed  Grey.  "I  had  it  once,  and  it  was 
special,  too,  but  it  didn't  affect  the  stock  market.  'It  is  now 
believed,  though  the  special  physicians  refuse  to  talk,  that  the 
patient  will  be  obliged  to  take  the  waters  at  Sprinkledorff, 
and  it  is  said  that  special  arrangements  are  being  made  for  his 
departure  on  a  special  steamer  now  being  specially  fumigated 
for  that  purpose.' 

"The  C.  Q.  D.  road  will  be  obliged  to  issue  several  bales  of 
watered  stock  and  to  increase  its  rates  on  account  of  all  that 
special  business,"  remarked  Grey,  when  he  had  finished  read- 
ing the  news  report.  "Yes,  Fox  will  go  to  Sprinkledorff,  and 
Ives  too.  They  will  remain  away  until  after  the  unpleasant 
consequences  of  the  abduction  cease  to  threaten  their  liberty. 
Then  Fox  will  return  to  plead  the  unconstitutionality  of 
Twain's  Purchase  law." 

Grey  and  Bolston  then  visited  the  sanitarium  and  advised 
Giddings  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  go  his  way. 

"Remember,  Giddings,"  said  Bolston  with  a  note  of  great 
positiveness  in  his  voice,  "that  if  your  friend  Ives  returns  to 
take  a  hand  against  the  reelection  of  Senator  Twain,  by 
heavens  you  will  be  put  behind  the  bars  if  I  can  accomplish 
it.  You  owe  your  freedom  to  your  devoted  daughter,  not  to 
me." 

Giddings  expressed  his  gratitude  in  a  voice  hoarse  with 
genuine  emotion,  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  At  this  point 
Martha  came  into  the  room.  Being  advised  of  the  happy  turn 
that  affairs  had  taken  for  her,  she  threw  her  arms  about  Grey's 
neck  and  kissed  his  ruddy  cheeks.  Taking  Bolston's  hands 
she  thanked  him. 

"I  cannot  tell  you  how  grateful  I  am  to  all  who  have  helped 


340  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

us  in  this  terrible  trial,"  she  exclaimed,  weeping  with  exultant 
joy. 

Then  she  hastened  away  to  tell  Enid  Grey  of  her  gratitude. 
The  next  morning  she  and  her  father,  released  from  a  strange 
imprisonment,  boarded  the  limited  express  for  the  west. 

Did  Asher  Wells  keep  faith  with  Martha  Giddings?  Alas! 
he  did  not.  He  gave  the  shallow  excuse  that  she  remained 
away  beyond  a  reasonable  length  of  time;  that  her  father  had 
not  been  so  seriously  ill  as  to  prevent  her  from  returning 
earlier  to  her  home.  The  truth  was,  after  she  went  east  with 
her  father  and  Bostwick,  Asher  Wells  fell  in  love  with  another 

beauty  of  B .  It  was  not  long  until  poor  Martha  came 

to  realize  what  had  happened. 

She  did  not  weep;  there  were  no  tears  that  would  assuage 
her  grief  or  drown  her  unutterable  sorrow.  Her  heart  was 
broken.  She  deserves  to  be  sainted. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

READJUSTMENT 

In  due  course  of  time  Bolston  came  to  know  of  the  real 
nature  of  Juanita's  illness  on  board  the  "Penelope."  How 
the  discovery  was  made  is  not  now  a  matter  of  very  great  im- 
portance. It  may  be  that  it  was  by  means  of  something  more 
than  mere  surmise  on  his  part,  for  Juanita  had  had  abundant 
opportunity  to  make  explanation.  He  was  a  frequent  visitor  at 
the  Greys  while  she  and  her  mother  were  guests  in  that  house- 
hold. When  they  went  for  a  fortnight's  visit  to  the  Mexican 
Embassy  he  found  his  way  to  this  hospitable  abode  with  equal 
regularity. 

Juanita  continued  to  find  additional  pretexts  for  not  going 
to  the  Holts,  except  for  an  occasional  duty  call.  This  be- 
came a  source  of  disturbance  to  Mrs.  Holt  and  Margaret. 
They  spoke  to  the  Englishman  about  it,  and  wondered  if  they 
could  have  offended  the  Guerreros. 

It  was  not  many  days  thereafter  that  he  met  Stephen  at  the 
club.  The  young  spendthrift  was  in  company  with  a  couple 
of  roistering  companions,  and  the  three  were  in  a  hilarious 
mood,  almost  noisy.  Calling  him  to  one  side,  Bolston  request- 
ed that  Stephen  accompany  him  to  a  private  room  on  an  upper 
floor,  which  he  hesitated  about  doing.  Being  advised  that  the 
matter  was  strictly  of  a  personal  nature,  one  that  it  were  best 
not  to  discuss  in  public,  the  millionaire's  son  sullenly  followed 


342  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

the  Englishman  up  stairs.  Stephen's  autocratic  spirit  having 
been  accelerated  by  a  brace  or  more  of  highballs,  he  was  far 
from  a  reasoning  frame  of  mind.  Indeed,  he  was  unusually 
haughty. 

"Why  am  I  honored  with  this  exhibition  of  your  confidence, 
Mr.  Bolston?"  he  asked  in  an  ironical  tone,  when  the  two  were 
within  the  room  and  the  Englishman  had  securely  locked  the 
door. 

"I  wish  to  consult  you  in  regard  to  a  lost  letter,"  was  the 
reply.  "In  order  that  I  may  not  go  astray  —  being  a  for- 
eigner— in  a  matter  involving  the  very  delicate  and  entirely 
proper  relations  existing  at  times  between  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, what  course  would  you  pursue,  let  me  ask,  if  you  should 
find  a  letter,  filled  with  expressions  of  tenderness,  supposedly 
written  by  —  well  your  sister  Margaret  for  instance  —  to  a 
gentleman?" 

"Damn  you !  I  will  not  permit  you  to  use  my  sister's  name 
in  this  way,"  exclaimed  Stephen,  rising  suddenly  to  his  feet, 
his  face  lurid  with  excitement.  He  was  Margaret's  defender 
now! 

"There  is  no  occasion  for  agitation  on  your  part,  Stephen," 
said  Bolston  in  a  tone  of  kindness.  "Calm  yourself  until  I 
have  finished.  If  you  have  not  apologized  to  Miss  Guerrero 
for  your  wicked  act  before  this  hour  tomorrow,  I  shall  be  ob- 
liged to  resort  to  measures  which  would  be  likely  to  disbar  you 
from  good  society." 

Bolston  had  risen,  and  as  he  spoke  he  advanced  toward 
young  Holt,  not  threateningly,  yet  in  a  way  that  left  no  room 
for  doubt  as  to  his  determined  purpose. 

Stephen's  artificial  courage  was  now  decidedly  on  the  wane. 
Only  a  few  moments  ago  he  was  writhing  with  assumed  indig- 
nation ;  now,  even  when  Bolston  unlocked  the  door  and  passed 
out  of  the  room,  he  could  not  find  his  tongue  to  make  reply 


READJUSTMENT  343 

to  the  Englishman's  last  remark.  When  he  joined  his  bibu- 
lous comrades  below  stairs,  his  manner  was  so  changed  and 
his  spirits  were  so  arid  as  to  require,  as  they  declared,  "two 
high  emergencies  for  one." 

The  following  evening  Bolston  called  at  the  Mexican  Em- 
bassy again.  As  he  was  taking  his  leave  Juanita  pressed  a  note 
into  his  hand,  and  in  a  voice  not  intended  to  be  overheard, 
she  asked  him  if  it  were  possible  for  him  to  forgive  her. 

"I  shall  not  admit,"  he  answered  with  a  low,  mellow  laugh, 
"that  there  is  any  reason  for  your  request,  or  that  you  could  do 
anything  to  make  forgiveness  necessary." 

What  woman  could  not  worship  a  character  like  this ! 

At  his  lodgings  he  unfolded  the  note  handed  him  by  Juan- 
ita and  read: 

Dear  Adorable  Juanita:  I  am  going  away — far  away — it  mat- 
ters not  where,  nor  whether  I  ever  return.  I  am  writing  this 
note  to  say  farewell  to  the  one  I  shall  never  cease  to  love,  and 
to  ask  that  she  accept  this  humble  apology  for  the  great  mistake 
I  made  in  regard  to  a  certain  letter.  It  was  wrong,  very  wrong; 
yet  my  love  for  you,  grown  desperate  for  want  of  recompense, 
is  the  explanation  I  have  to  make  in  asking  your  forgiveness. 

If  I  see  you  never  more,  then  forevermore  farewell. 

Disconsolately, 

STEPHEN. 

An  evening  reception  at  the  Holt  residence,  soon  after  the 
Senora  and  Juanita  came,  with  due  apology  for  their  failure 
not  to  have  done  so  long  before,  brought  together  many  dis- 
tinguished devotees  of  society.  The  winter  home  of  the  Holts 
was  a  spacious  structure,  as  can  well  be  imagined.  Its  pre- 
dominant feature  was  a  great  conservatory  whose  playing 
fountains  and  perfumed  atmosphere  fairly  enthralled  the 
senses  of  those  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  wander  among 
and  admire  its  exotic  inhabitants. 

Bolston  and  Juanita  had  drifted  together  in  that  seemingly 


344  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

aimless  way  that  lovers  only  can  explain,  until  they  found 
themselves  snugly  seated  under  the  sheltering  branches  of  a 
wide-spreading  palm  in  a  retired  corner  at  the  further  end  of 
the  enchanting  tropical  garden — quite  alone,  as  once  on  the 
Tampico  pier.  Here,  in  the  silence  of  their  immediate  sur- 
roundings, they  were  listening  to  the  distant  strains  of  the  or- 
chestra, which  was  rendering  an  old  and  familiar  air  with  such 
melodious  charm  that  the  appreciative  Briton,  when  the  music 
had  ceased,  remarked  that  the  composer  must  have  been  moved 
by  an  unusual  yearning  of  the  heart. 

"A  promise  unredeemed,  no  doubt,"  replied  Juanita. 

"Or  one  anticipated,"  added  Bolston.  "In  either  case  his 
passion  must  have  been  very  great  to  have  found  such  plain- 
tive expression  in  his  song." 

There  was  a  touching  tenderness  in  his  voice  that  gave  his 
words  a  world  of  meaning;  that  thrilled  Juanita's  soul  with 
sweet  delight.  Only  once  in  this  madrigal  epoch  of  his  life — 
when  he  kissed  her  hand  and  asked  if  now  she  believed — had 
the  fire  of  love  outran  his  habitual  circumspection.  While  she 
paused  for  a  fitting  reply,  she  felt  his  strong  arm  encircling  her 
supple  waist.  In  sheer  helplessness  she  was  drawn  close  to  his 
stalwart  frame. 

"Ah,  Juanita,"  said  he,  "is  there  no  promise  that  you  would 
make  were  I  to  ask?" 

"There  is  one  promise  that  I  have  made  myself,"  she  re- 
plied. "I  will  never  again  doubt  your  constancy.  I  have 
been  foolish,  very  foolish." 

"That  belongs  to  the  past,"  he  whispered,  "and  I  hold  my- 
self to  blame  for  it  all.  I  have  loved  you  from  the  moment 
of  our  first  meeting,  and  should  have  told  you  so  without 
equivocation  ere  this.  I  feel  now  that  had  I  done  so  you 
would  have  been  spared  the  pain  resulting  from  my  caution. 


READJUSTMENT  345 

It  is  my  nature  to  be  so.  It  is  you  who  must  forgive  me,  if 
you  will. 

"That  I  would  gladly  do  if  there  were  any  reason — " 

"Then  tell  me,"  he  interrupted,  pressing  her  hand  raptur- 
ously to  his  lips,  "if  there  is  any  reason  why  you  cannot  love 
me." 

"There  is  none,"  she  answered,  nestling  closer  in  his  strong 
embrace;  "I  have  loved  you  always." 

If  then — could  the  sheltering  palm  only  proclaim  it;  yet, 
why  summon  even  this  mute  witness,  when  testimony  of  such 
circumstantial  kind,  so  long  accepted  in  vernal  courts  the 
world  around,  is  so  abundant  and  too  positive  to  be  over- 
thrown? For  it  must  be  that  at  this  sweet,  auspicious  mo- 
ment the  seal  of  true  love  was  affixed  to  Juanita's  anticipating 
lips. 

This  happy  Mexican  maid,  the  reigning  queen  of  Ralph 
Bolston's  heart,  was  quick  to  disclose  the  reason  for  her 
exhilaration  when  she  and  her  mother  were  alone  that  night. 

"Ah,  madre  de  mi  alma,"  she  exclaimed,  caressing  and  kiss- 
ing the  Senora's  cheeks.  "It  is  really  true!  He  loves  me! 
We  are  engaged!"  Happy  Juanita.  Fortunate  Briton. 

Strange,  is  it  not,  that  Margaret  Holt  and  Captain  Mikles- 
koff,  in  a  less  sequestered  part  of  the  conservatory,  almost  at 
the  same  moment  when  Juanita  was  promising  never  again  to 
doubt  the  constancy  of  the  knightly  Briton,  were  recounting 
recollections  of  their  last  interview  on  the  "Penelope"  at  San 
Enrique?  The  Russian,  since  that  event,  had  found  much  idle 
time  in  which  to  draw  not  a  few  encouraging  conclusions  from 
Margaret's  words,  "not  now." 

"With  those  words  every  moment  ringing  sweetly  in  my 
ears,"  said  he,  "I  have  been  sustained  by  ecstatic  hope." 

"Please  do  not  press  me  to  make  them  more  definite,  Cap- 


346  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

tain,"  she  said,  with  what  to  him  seemed  an  unsympathetic 
laugh. 

"I  could  not  think  of  doing  so,"  he  replied,  "unless  the 
definition  removed  my  unhappiness  completely,  making  me 
your  slave,  for  no  servitude  would  be  too  great  if  you  but 
loved  me." 

"Only  a  friend,  Captain.  It  will  never  be  less  than  that ;  it 
cannot  be  more." 

It  is  related  that  when  Edward  Gibbon,  he  of  the  "Decline 
and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  was  courting  in  Switzerland 
the  most  beautiful  maid  of  Lausanne,  he  "ran  around  like  a 
mad-man  with  a  sword  in  his  hand  compelling  the  peasants  to 
own  that  she  was  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world." 
To  be  par  excellence  the  beauty  of  Lausanne  was,  in  the  great 
historian's  mind,  to  concede  that  there  was  a  limit  to  the 
charms  of  the  girl  whom  he  subsequently  jilted;  yet,  during 
his  mad  infatuation,  he  insisted  that  her  title  to  superlative 
beauty  was  to  be  circumscribed  by  nothing  less  than  the  boun- 
daries of  the  universe. 

In  his  love  for  Margaret  Holt,  Page  Bannister  was  far  less 
demonstrative  than  was  the  immortal  chronicler  in  declaring 
his  passion  for  the  Gallic  enchantress.  This  was  due,  no 
doubt,  to  an. entirely  proper  recognition  of  the  exaltedness  of 
the  great  office  into  which  he  was  soon  to  be  inducted,  for  it 
is  quite  impossible  to  imagine  that  one  possessing  the  seri- 
ous and  contemplative  mien  that  would  serve  to  raise  him 
to  so  great  a  height  as  he  had  now  come  to  should  find  it 
within  the  range  of  his  dignified  station  to  engage  in  so  com- 
mon a  thing  as  making  love.  Quite  impossible,  I  repeat. 

And  it  is  quite  probable  the  fair  Margaret  herself  was  loth 
to  indulge  any  demonstration  of  affection  which  might  give 
rise  to  the  suspicion  that  her  attachment  was  impelled  by  ulte- 
rior motives;  for  it  is  not  beyond  reason  to  assume  there  were 


READJUSTMENT  347 

those  among  the  smart  set  who  would  discredit  the  suggestion 
of  its  being  a  case  of  "love  at  first  sight,"  or  that  Margaret 
was  not  stirred  by  a  pardonable  ambition  to  possess  herself  of 
a  popular  matrimonial  prize. 

Hence,  also,  the  points  of  contrast  in  the  lovemaking  of  the 
Briton  who  wrote  of  Roman  injustice  and  the  Briton  who, 
through  much  tribulation,  had  sought  to  rescue  a  supposed 
victim  of  the  industrial  policy  which  many  very  good  people 
believe  has  come  to  be  the  noxious  growth  of  the  newer  Re- 
public. The  declaration  of  the  one  was  that  his  heart's  idol 
was  "the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world;"  of  the  other 
that  the  irrestible  object  of  his  adoration  was  "the  most  beauti- 
ful woman  he  had  ever  seen."  The  disparity  in  the  two  tem- 
peraments, however,  is  manifest  in  Gibbon's  public  avowal  of 
his  love ;  whereas,  for  reasons  which  are  not  entirely  obvious, 
Ralph  Bolston's  slow  surrender  to  Juanita's  charms  was  en- 
veloped in  the  profound  secrecy  that  belongs  to  a  delicate 
diplomatic  question. 

Well,  this  now  memorable  White  House  wedding  was  fixed 
for  the  delightful  month  of  June,  when  all  Washington  is 
atremble  with  fragrant  bloom,  and  so  many  sweethearts  of 
the  past  winter,  now  joined  in  felicitous  wedlock,  come  here 
to  climb  the  Washington  Monument,  for  of  course  the  ele- 
vator is  stopped;  to  visit  Mount  Vernon,  where  Martha 
Custis,  that  was,  spent  her  second  honeymoon;  to  walk  ad- 
miringly with  a  feeling  almost  of  holy  awe  through  the  Presi- 
dent's house,  the  nuptial  place  of  a  devoted  mother,  where 
two  famous  brides  and  beautiful  had  taken  their  marital  vows, 
Ah !  it  is  the  very  Paradise  of  lovers. 

And  yet,  I  have  never  seen  any  of  these  happy,  interesting 
couples,  coming  here,  as  they  do,  direct  from  the  church,  that 
did  not  know  quite  positively,  indeed,  they  are  always  sure,  of 
looking  like  old  married  folk.  How  unconcerned  they  appear 


348  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

to  be — how  blase,  even  with  the  rice  in  the  folds  of  their  gar- 
ments— and  all  Washington  recognizing  them  at  a  glance. 

And,  as  they  stroll  aimlessly  and  light-heartedly  about  the 
city,  with  all  the  beautiful  world  before  them,  and  only  sweet 
memories  behind  them,  they  will  pass  through  the  great  corri- 
dor of  the  Willington  Hotel,  whence  Cornelius  Twain  disap- 
peared from  the  loving  gaze  of  poor  Enid  Grey. 

Later,  they  will  sit  in  the  Senate  gallery  looking  down  upon 
the  serious  statesmen  and  refuse  to  believe  it  was  here  that 
Baxter's  carnation  evoked  a  flood  of  tears.  And,  if  they  will 
observe  closely,  they  may  see  John  Koppinger,  somewhat  older 
than  when  he  last  appeared  in  these  pages,  but  a  bachelor  still. 

Afterward,  they  will  repair  to  the  Treasury  Department 
with  their  guide,  who  will  point  out  the  identical  chair  in 
which  a  famous  man  sat  when  he  was  a  member  of  President 
Bannister's  cabinet,  and  recommended  a  law  for  a  central 
bank  through  which  the  Government  could  assume  control  of 
the  country's  finances,  thus  depriving  the  greedy  money  kings 
of  the  power  to  create  panics.  But  the  Master  Monger  was 
opposed  to  a  bank  of  this  character,  and  that  is  why  the  coun- 
try hasn't  got  one. 

Before  leaving  the  great  building,  where  so  many  millions 
are  buried  in  the  subterranean  vaults,  and,  coming  to  a  small 
aperture  in  the  wall,  here,  if  the  lovers  'care  to  know  him  now, 
will  be  found  Captain  John  Noggins,  for  Bolston  took  care 
to  pension  this  noble  old  soul  by  having  him  appointed  to  a 
place  as  laborer,  the  best  position  that  could  be  had  for  him, 
from  which  place,  after  many  years,  possibly  he  may  be  pro- 
moted to  a  messengership.  In  this  life  position  he  will  earn  a 
small  salary  on  which  he  and  Susie  must  manage  to  subsist,  and 
it  is  not  at  all  probable,  in  view  of  the  high  cost  of  living, 
that  she  will  ever  save  up  enough  money  to  build  a  church  at 
Chorreras  for  her  good  old  friend  the  amiable  padre. 


READJUSTMENT  349 

And  now,  weary  of  sightseeing,  the  lovers  will  walk  to  their 
temporary  bower  of  bliss  in  some  fashionable  hotel,  passing 
on  their  way  a  very  fat  man  with  gray  hair.  He  is  standing 
at  the  street  corner,  with  a  small  tin  cup  in  his  hand,  and  is 
still  laughing.  He  will  refuse  to  die  so  long  as  Sam  Ives  in- 
sists upon  remaining  alive.  Near  him  a  middle  aged  woman, 
with  marks  of  beauty  lingering,  still,  in  her  face,  is  turning 
out  a  sweet  little  melody  from  a  wheezy  hand  organ.  She  de- 
serves a  better  fate,  as  Enid  Grey,  remembering  the  railway 
accident,  will  tell  you.  The  lovers  may  not  know  who  the 
poor  couple  are,  although  their  names  are  quite  prominent  in 
these  pages. 

Before  leaving  for  their  home,  of  course  the  bride  and 
groom  will  visit  Arlington  Cemetery,  and  as  they  are  strolling 
solemnly  to  the  north  of  the  old  Lee  place,  commonly  called  a 
mansion,  their  attention  will  be  attracted  to  a  tall  granite 
monument  on  which  is  this  inscription :  "Arthur  Grey,  Editor, 
Altruist  and  Philanthropist." 

"But,"  cries  the  dear  reader,  who  may  have  grown  weary  of 
these  touching  allusions,  "you  have  not  told  us  of  the  fate  of 
President  Bannister,  nor  for  what  his  administration  was  most 
notable."  Thank  you  kindly  for  the  suggestion. 

Well,  Page  Bannister,  having  declared  he  would  not  seek  a 
second  term,  and  meaning  what  he  said,  retired  to  his  farm  in 
the  west.  Here  he  is  learning  the  language  of  nature,  as  it  is 
spoken  to  him  from  the  freshly  turned  soil.  And  the  one  en- 
during event  of  his  administration  with  which  he  is  more  de- 
lighted than  all  others  is  really  worth  telling  about.  Soon 
after  his  inauguration  three  "Napoleons  of  finance,"  so  called, 
came  from  New  York  to  see  the  new  chief  executive.  They 
were  accompanied  by  the  astute  Roberts.  No  matter  what 
their  business  was :  it  was  enough  if  it  were  only  a  social  call — 
so  they  said  to  the  reporters.  At  any  rate,  it  was  not  a  matter 


350  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

that  concerned  the  public  that  brought  them  there;  and  that 
is  why  this  volume  should  deal  with  the  subject — in  order  that 
the  real  facts  may  be  made  known. 

"By  your  permission,  Mr.  President,"  began  Roberts,  "let 
me  say  that  we  have  called  to  discuss  with  you  the  very  serious 
business  conditions  of  the  country.  As  you  are  aware,  of 
course,  financial  circles  are  much  disturbed;  there  is  a  feeling 
of  omirious  uncertainty,  a  lack  of  confidence — " 

"In  whom,  sir?"  interrupted  the  President,  rather  pointedly. 

"There  is  apprehension,  an  atmosphere  of  distrust — unrest 
were  better,  perhaps,"  remarked  one  of  the  financiers,  who  ap- 
peared to  feel  that  Roberts  had  not  put  the  case  in  its  best 
light.  "Money  is  going  into  hiding,  Mr.  President;  bankers 
are  nervous ;  credits  are  contracting  as  never  before.  In  truth, 
there  is  every  indication  of  a  panic.  I  regret  to  say  it." 

"And  my  clients  here,"  added  Roberts,  "who  are  always 
watchful  of  the  nation's  welfare,  have  worked  out  a  plan  to 
prevent  the  impending  crash.  They  need — indeed,  they  beg 
your  assistance." 

Here  the  consolidators'  lawyer  paused  to  give  the  President 
an  opportunity  to  pledge  his  cooperation  in  forestalling  the 
panic,  for  of  course  he  would  not  refuse  to  lend  aid  in  saving 
the  "business  interests"  of  the  country  from  ruin,  in  these 
piping  times  of  peace,  too ! 

"You  will  pardon  me,  gentlemen,  but  I  do  not  quite  under- 
stand in  what  way  I  may  be  of  service.  You  have  described 
the  business  situation  as  you  see  it,  but  have  not  explained  in 
regard  to  the  remedy." 

"In  a  few  words,  Mr.  President,"  replied  Roberts,  "the  First 
Mortgage  Bank,  finding  itself  in  possession,  unexpectedly,  of 
course,  of  a  controlling  interest  in  the  securities  of  the  South- 
ern Soot  Company,  has  decided  to  foreclose  upon  the  plant. 
If  this  is  done  the  Soot  Company  will  be  obliged  to  suspend 


READJUSTMENT  351 

operations,  thousands  of  workingmen  will  be  thrown  out  of 
employment,  and  the  panic  will  be  on.  It  will  then  be  neces- 
sary to  reorganize  it  in  some  fashion.  Now,  my  clients,  who 
represent  the  Northern  Spike  Company,  can  head  off  the  dark 
and  forbidding  disaster  by  taking  over  the  Soot  property.  But, 
should  they  do  so,  thus  restoring  confidence  in  the  business 
world,  they  feel  they  ought  not  to  be  subjected  to  prosecution 
by  the  Government." 

"What  would  hapj)en  if  I  did  not  approve  of  your  plan?" 
inquired  the  President,  his  eyes  flashing  with  indignation. 

"The  First  Mortgage  Bank,  I  fear,  would  foreclose,  the 
Soot  Company  would  be  compelled  to  shut  down,  other  big 
banks,  becoming  nervous,  would  contract  their  loans,  and  the 
little  banks  everywhere  would  take  fright ;  some  of  them  might 
see  fit  to  suspend  payments.  Liquidation  in  all  lines  of  busi- 
ness would  necessarily  follow.  I  almost  shudder  to  think  of 
the  awful  consequences,  Mr.  President." 

Roberts  was  now  almost  in  tears.  He  could  not  have  been 
more  frank,  it  will  be  observed,  when  he  talked  with  Fox 
of  the  possible  tragic  consequences  of  Twain's  abduction. 

Then  the  President  asked  a  very  important  question : 

"Does  not  the  Northern  Spike  Company  control  the  First 
Mortgage  Bank?" 

"The  relations  of  the  two  institutions  are  friendly,"  was 
Roberts'  cautious  reply. 

"You  are  aware,  of  course,  that  should  I  give  sanction  to 
your  scheme  I  would  be  liable  to  impeachment?"  remarked  the 
President,  interrogatively. 

"But  Congress  would  not  dare  start  such  a  thing,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent; you  are  too  popular  with  the  people  to  admit  of  it,"  re- 
plied Roberts, 

Touching  a  little  black  button  on  the  door  jamb,  the  Presi- 
dent said: 


352  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

"Gentlemen,  please  make  yourselves  comfortable  for  a  few 
minutes.  I  will  have  the  United  States  marshal  come  and 
take  you  to  jail." 

Roberts  quailed,  and  his  clients  gave  him  a  reproachful 
look.  It  was  a  look  that  he  had  never  before  seen  in  their 
hardened  faces.  Then,  smiling  encouragingly,  as  if  to  reas- 
sure them,  he  muttered  in  a  hoarse  whisper : 

"What  is  the  nature  of  the  accusation  against  us,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent?" 

"Treason,  sir !"  shouted  Bannister,  striking  his  desk  with  his 
clenched  fist. 

"By  whom  will  such  a  remarkable  information  be  laid?" 

There  was  now  the  suspicion  of  a  sneer  in  Roberts'  speech, 
for  it  was  evident  soft  words  would  no  longer  avail  him. 

"By  the  President  of  the  United  States,  sir,"  was  the  posi- 
tive almost  fierce  reply. 

After  a  long  silence,  during  which  Bannister  returned  and 
took  his  seat  at  the  big  mahogany  desk,  Roberts  spoke,  in  apol- 
ogetic tones,  saying  the  President  had  not  fully  comprehended 
his  meaning.  He  went  further  and  said  he  was  to  blame,  per- 
haps, for  having  failed  to  make  himself  understood. 

"I  am  exceedingly  sorry,  Mr.  President,  that  I  should  have 
been  so  indefinite,  so  dense  even,  and  humbly  apologize." 

"The  incident  is  closed,  for  the  present.  You  and  your 
clients  are  at  liberty  to  go,  but  under  parole,  remember,  effec- 
tive only  during  good  behavior." 

The  First  Mortgage  Bank  did  not  foreclose. 

The  Soot  works  did  not  shut  down. 

There  was  no  panic. 

This,  dear  reader,  was  the  most  notable  event  in  Bannister's 
administration.  His  gentleness,  his  taciturnity  had  marked 
him  an  easy  prey  for  men  of  Roberts'  stamp.  But  this  was  a 
reception  the  consolidators  and  their  cunning  lawyer  were  not 


READJUSTMENT  353 

looking  for  when  they  went  to  the  White  House.  It  was  the 
kind  of  reception,  moreover,  that  might  have  put  an  end  to 
former  infractions  of  the  law  had  it  been  resorted  to  earlier  in 
the  same  earnest  manner. 

All  of  this  is  intended  to  explain  and  emphasize  the  immen- 
sity of  space  that  exists  between  Action  and  Agitation,  con- 
cerning which,  already,  too  much  may  have  been  said  in  this 
history;  albeit  I  set  out,  in  the  first  place,  to  write  a  political 
novel,  with  malice  toward  none  but  with  charity  for  all. 


CHAPTER     XXX 


FINIS 


One  day,  not  long  after  Twain's  reelection  to  the  Senate, 
Bolston  received  a  letter  from  him.  It  was  post-marked  at 
Boston.  His  friends  at  M believed  him  to  be  in  Wash- 
ington or  near  by,  resting  from  his  cruel  experience  at  the 
hands  of  desperate  men  in  quest  of  ungenerous  power  and  sor- 
did gain.  There  was  no  explanation  in  the  letter  of  his 
strange  conduct  in  going  away  so  suddenly  after  his  triumph  in 
securing  the  adoption  of  his  substitute  to  the  Purchase  bill — 
only  the  request  that  his  friend,  the  constant  Briton,  should 
come  to  him  on  an  important  matter  which  could  not  be  ex- 
plained in  writing,  and  a  confused  statement  in  regard  to  "an 
annoying  mental  disturbance"  which  he  hoped  would  soon  pass 
away.  He  was  at  the  Charles  street  house  again,  where,  he 
said,  he  would  await  the  arrival  of  the  Englishman,  whom  he 
admonished  against  publicity. 

We  may  never  know  of  the  solemn  thoughts  that  accom- 
panied Ralph  Bolston  on  his  dreary  journey  to  Boston,  nor  of 
the  depressing  emotions  which  beset  him  on  the  way  as  he 
returned  to  the  Capital.  We  have  noted  the  feelings  which 
prompted  him  on  a  former  occasion,  after  he  had  been  com- 
missioned to  find  Twain  and  restore  him  to  the  woman  who 
loved  him;  how  he  sought  to  deserve  her  confidence  in  grati- 
fying the  only  aspiration  of  her  life. 


FINIS  355 

We  may  depend  upon  it,  therefore,  that  he  will  be  steadfast, 
none  the  less,  in  performing  the  part  that  he  is  now  called 
upon  to  play. 

Standing  impatiently  on  the  front  stoop  of  the  house,  Twain 
awaited  the  coming  of  the  Englishman. 

"Come  quickly,"  said  he,  when  Bolston  had  arrived  and 
was  shaking  his  hand.  "I  have  much  to  say  to  you,  and  there 
may  be  little  time  in  which  to  say  it." 

They  passed  through  the  narrow  dark  hall  where  Bolston 
and  Koppinger  had  stood  staring  at  each  other  not  so  many 
months  ago,  and  on  up  the  creaking  stairs  to  the  front  room 
with  whose  ancient  furnishings  and  queer  recesses  the  English- 
man was  already  familiar. 

"By  this  time,  my  dear  friend,"  began  Twain,  throwing 
himself  at  full  length  upon  the  rickety  bed,  "you  must  have 
guessed  the  cause  of  my  distemper.  It  cannot  go  on  much 
longer.  I  have  fought  against  it  with  all  my  energy,  and  at 
the  very  moment  when  I  had  reason  to  believe  it  would  not  re- 
turn, and  that  once  more  I  might  go  about  my  duties  fearlessly 
and  unhampered,  the  horrible  spell  took  possession  of  me 
again.  It  may  come  even  now,  before  I  have  told  you — " 

Here  the  poor  fellow  closed  his  eyes,  clenching  his  fists  and 
compressing  his  lips.  After  a  few  moments  of  spasmodic 
effort,  as  if  he  were  contending  with  some  strange  demon  of 
darkness,  he  rose  from  the  bed,  and,  crossing  the  room  to  a 
little  table  on  which  rested  a  much-worn  suit  case,  he  opened 
it.  Then,  quite  oblivious  of  Bolston's  presence,  he  calmly 
gathered  a  few  toilet  articles  from  adjacent  shelves,  took  some 
small  pieces  of  wearing  apparel  from  a  dingy  closet  in  the  cor- 
ner, and  proceeded  to  pack  them  carefully  in  the  suit  case,  as 
if  preparing  for  a  journey.  The  roving  spirit  was  again  upon 
him.  When  he  had  closed  and  locked  the  suit  case,  placing  the 
key  in  his  pocket,  he  turned  and  peered  smilingly  upon  his 


356  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

friend.  The  strange,  bewildered  look  of  a  moment  ago  was 
now  gone  from  his  face,  and  he  returned  and  stretched  him- 
self upon  the  bed  again. 

"A  narrow  escape,  Bolston,"  said  he,  with  a  pathetic  laugh. 
"But,  as  I  was  saying,  this  cannot  go  on  much  longer.  I  sent 
for  you  that  I  might  explain,  and  to  ask  you — ."  Here  his 
voice  trembled  and  the  tears  gushed  from  his  sunken  eyes. 
"So  that  I  might  ask  you — .  But'  you,  my  friend,  will  under- 
stand. Tell  her — that  I  love  her — so  deeply,  so  devotedly — 
yet  I  must  not  see  her !  I  would  not  add  to  her  pain  and  suf- 
fering, Bolston.  That  is  why  I  did  not  go  to  her  even  before 
I  came  so  unexpectedly  to  the  Senate  that  day  to  finish  my 
life's  work  there ;  to  offer  the  substitute  and  tell  them  why  it 
should  be  adopted.  After  that  I  promised  myself,  if  the  spell 
did  not  come  back  again,  and  when  I  was — as  of  old — in  feel- 
ing and  in  appearance — but  it  was  not  to  be,  Bolston;  it  is 
never  to  be.  Please  tell  her — for  me — gently,  tenderly." 

Then  he  closed  his  eyes  again,  and  seemed  to  sleep,  yet  fit- 
fully. When  night  came  he  yawned  languidly,  and  turned  on 
his  pillow.  Soon  he  rose,  lit  the  small  oil  lamp  on  the  mantel, 
and,  after  preparing  himself  for  bed,  sat  down  near  Bolston, 
of  whose  presence  he  had  taken  not  the  least  notice  since  last 
addressing  him.  Nor  did  he  seem  to  recognize  him  until  late 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day,  when,  having  a  lucid 
interval,  he  laid  his  hand  upon  the  Englishman's  shoulder  and 
said: 

"Gently,  tenderly,  my  friend,  as  you  would  have  me  serve 
you  if  the  case  were  reversed  with  us.  Care  for  her  as  you 
have  cared  for  me;  be  her  friend.  And  now,  do  what  you 
think  best  with  me.  Take  me  to  some  place,  Bolston,  where  I 
may  bide  the  near  end  of  a  life  distraught  by  much  effort  to 
serve  and  please  the  clamoring,  inconstant  multitude.  It  was 
not  for  myself  that  I  have  made  the  struggle  of  the  past  few 


FINIS  357 

years.  I  think  you  know  that  to  be  true.  When  she — Enid ! — 
thank  God  I  may  yet  speak  her  name — when  she  came  into 
my  existence,  and  Love  grappled  with  debased  Politics  for  pos- 
session of  me — well,  my  good  friend,  I  made  the  mistake  of 
trying  to  serve  both  of  them.  As  well  might  a  soul  essay  the 
impossible  task  of  dwelling  simultaneously  in  Heaven  and  in 
Hell." 

So  that  now  the  honest,  faithful  Englishman,  after  a  hur- 
ried arrangement  for  the  comfort  of  his  suffering  friend  at  a 
near  by  resort  for  neurasthenics,  where  he  left  him  in  the  care 
of  skilled  attendants,  took  his  way  back  to  the  Capital,  now 
the  unwilling  bearer  of  another  commission — one  that  a  less 
resolute  man  than  he  might  well  have  evaded;  the  high  duty, 
indeed,  of  conveying  a  message  to  the  loving,  hopeful  and 
trusting  creature,  whose  birthstar  had  long  since  marked  her 
for  misfortune — a  message  from  the  one  around  whom  all  her 
anxieties  and  adoration  were  gathered. 

And  how  painful  a  duty  it  was  for  the  faithful  Briton  1 

Still,  the  commission  was  executed,  with  what  hesitation  and 
suspense,  yet  with  what  fidelity,  must  be  left  to  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  reader.  I  will  not  undertake  to  describe  the  feel- 
ings of  the  one  who  received  the  message,  nor  to  dwell  at  length 
upon  the  fortitude  with  which  she  bore  the  sorrowful  tidings, 
for  words  refuse  a  task  so  heavy. 

Besides,  all  that  I  am  permitted  to  recount  of  the  pitiful 
scene  is  that  Enid  Grey,  after  a  moment  of  solicitous  indeci- 
sion, such  as  a  great  shock  like  this  might  be  expected  to  pro- 
duce, seemed  to  be  as  if  translated  to  another  and  higher 
sphere;  her  human  part  consumed  with  spiritual  exaltation; 
her  face  lighting  with  a  heavenly  smile,  like  that  of  Thais 
among  the  White  Ladies  of  the  monastery  in  the  desert. 

"Bear  up,  brave  heart,"   said  she  to   Bolston,  over   whose 


358  THE     SECOND     AMENDMENT 

rugged  cheeks  the  tears  were  now  raining.     "Only  help  me  to 
soothe  him !  only  help  me !" 

Which  he  did  to  the  fullest ;  for,  after  the  least  loss  of  time, 
he  brought  her  to  the  sanitarium,  which  nestled  solemnly  in 
the  New  England  uplands,  among  stately  oaks  and  graceful 
elms  whose  gnarled  limbs  and  twining  branches,  clothed  in 
their  January  coats  of  sleet  and  snow,  whipped  vainly  at  the 
shrieking  winter  winds  as  they  raced  eastward  to  drink  from 
the  warm  currents  of  the  blue  ocean. 

Here  she  remained,  watching  and  praying  at  his  bedside, 
unmindful  of  the  heavy  hours,  the  cheerless  gray  days,  the 
black  silent  nights,  that  came  and  went  in  dull  procession. 

O,  if  he  could  but  know  of  her  presence,  of  her  devotion,  of 
her  consuming  desire  that  reason  might  return  once  more  to 
the  disordered  brain;  that  even  a  momentary  ray  of  the  old 
light  might  speak  to  her  out  of  the  now  turbulent  eyes.  Had 
ever  there  been  a  more  sacred  marriage  altar  than  this  ?  What 
instrument  of  man's  awkward  designing  could  put  such  nup- 
tial ties  asunder? 

Thus  she  pictured  the  seemingly  impossible;  thus  she  hoped 
and  prayed  .  .  .  until,  one  bright  sunlit  day  that  brought 
the  spring's  first  robin,  Enid  Grey's  heroic  spirit  seemed  to 
forsake  her — to  pass  all  suddenly  away,  leaving  her  in  physi- 
cal turmoil — helpless,  emotionless,  even  without  the  power  to 
summon  aid.  Still,  she  felt  no  alarm — only  a  curious  longing 
to  fathom  the  strange  feeling  that  had  come  over  her.  How 
long  she  remained  thus  entranced,  thus  deprived  of  her  human 
senses,  she  knew  not. 

But  this  she  does  know,  that  after  her  cold,  rigid  frame 
was  athrill  with  mortal  warmth  again,  the  eyes  of  her  hus- 
band— yea !  for  had  not  their  souls  been  joined  but  now  in  holy 
wedlock  by  the  Highest? — that  his  eyes  opened  dreamily  upon 
her;  that  the  old  light  was  there  once  more;  that  he  smiled 


FINIS  359 

and  took  her  hand  in  his;  that  she  bent  over  him  and  kissed 
his  pale  lips,  while  he  smoothed  the  drooping  ringlets  at  her 
temple.  Nor  could  the  Borean  tempests,  nor  the  bolts  of 
Heaven,  nor  death  itself  have  broken  their  long  embrace. 
Only  the  mutual  impulse  of  their  united  spirits  could  serve 
such  rapture  as  this ! 

Then  he  rose,  calmly  and  resolutely,  from  his  couch,  and, 
with  her  assistance,  prepared  himself  for  the  journey  that 
would  bring  them  to  the  scenes  of  their  earlier  attachment;  to 
the  parental  roof  tree  where  the  ancestral  portraits  were  wait- 
ing to  look  down  upon  their  wooing  again.  All  fear  of  re- 
turning torment  had  departed  from  him.  Under  the  pas- 
sionate influence  of  her  endearing  presence,  her  subtle,  har- 
monizing power — Athene  pouring  "nectar  and  ambrosia,  full 
of  delight,  into  the  breast  of  Achilles" — the  intermittent  shad- 
ows so  long  besetting  his  mentality  had  taken  flight  forever ! 

He  was  "vivified  with  a  spark  of  her  own  soul." 


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